Inquisitor
by LordCommanderMilitant
Summary: One day, after watching my guardsmen (I play IG on the tabletop, highly mechanized) butcher the local xenos of the Warhammer 40k universe for too many times in a row, i decided to send some poor imperial sot (now an inquisitor) to a much more idealistic world to generally blow the crap out of stuff. A D6 decided Mass Effect. Better summary at top of first chapter.
1. Chapter 1: Exposition

One day, after watching my guardsmen (I play IG on the tabletop, highly mechanized) butcher the local Xenos of the Warhammer 40k universe for too many times in a row, i decided to send some poor imperial sot to a much more idealistic world to generally blow the crap out of stuff, because they were getting far too proficient at blowing the crap out of the local ork Waagh. A random number cube decided they would visit Mass Effect. A particularly awesome apocalypse game became the inspiration for the beginning part (but the chaos here were actually orks in real life, and there wasn't an inquisitorial strike team). I was originally going to send a shadowsword over, but decided that a fellglaive was much more awesome (I really like volkite guns, ad am slightly disappointed there isn't a baneblade counterpart to the fellglaive), and an Inquisitor and her assistant would sound much more like a loony to the denizens of Mass Effect than a guardsman, and thus create more amusing/morally questionable scenarios. Plus, the machine spirit eliminates the crew for the most part, reducing the amount of characters to write for. I did take artistic liberty with the fellglaive turret because having a top hatch to wave a sword out of while giving a speech is awesome. I feel like the quality of writing here would make any English teacher cringe; it's the first time I've written fanfiction. I also finally worked up the nerve to post this to the internet after 4 weeks.

I DON'T OWN COPYRIGHT ON ANYTHING. WH40K BELONGS TO GAMES WORKSHOP. MASS EFFECT BELONGS TO BIOWARE.

* * *

_Unyielding Wrath_ sat at rest in the blackness of space, a 14 kilometer mass of tens of meters thick adamantine battleplate, high powered lances, and several meter wide torpedo bays. Around it were ships of all sizes, from the small destroyers and destroyer escorts, barely a kilometer and a half long, to a mighty 14 kilometer long Apocalypse-Class battleship. Unlike those around it, _Unyielding Wrath_'s gilded hull was a dark black. A large panel in the stern region of the battle barge featured a shining golden Aquila, and beneath it, a deep red "I", the sigil of the Emperor of Man's most holy Inquisition.

The fleet was at rest now, but days ago it had been in a most vicious battle with the fell forces of the dark gods. Beneath the _Unyielding Wrath_, a nameless hive world spun. Below, hundreds of thousands of guardsmen waited in their trenches, the grim, dour soldiers of Krieg, the vaunted shock troopers of Cadia, and Kauravan armored regiments, preparing for the next counterattack by the servants of Chaos. The forces of the Great Enemy had been pushed back to a single great fortress, protected from orbital barrage by void shields powered by an artifact from the dark age of technology. Now the troops waited, while hundreds of Basilisk GMC's relentlessly shelled the walls of that great bastion, devastating the area with. While a breach had been made in the wall by the fall of a great traitor Imperator titan, the heretics viciously defended the breach and the guardsmen had been unable to make any progress, the war becoming bogged down into a multiple year long siege.

Aboard the bridge of _Unyielding Wrath_, Lord Inquisitor Katherine Laurea of the Ordo Malleus leaned against the railings viewing a great holographic display of the heretical citadel. She had been dispatched by her order to break the siege and end this particular conflict after reports came in claiming the heretics has been summoning foul creatures of the warp, her area of specialty. In the vehicle bay, a techpriest inspected an ancient fellglaive, _R__ighteous Vengeance_, muttering incantations to its machine spirit and performing the rites of maintenance on the great Volkite Carronade. A team of Grey Knights stood in their barracks, receiving a briefing from their commander. They bowed their heads in prayer, in preparation for their next mission; the rustling of their purity seals the only sound in that all. In the ships cathedral, Sister Silvana prayed. She knew that, as a blank, she didn't have a soul for the Emperor to save, but maintained her faith that the Emperor might be able to hear her prayers anyway. Her silver armor and seraphim jump pack reflected the light of the thousand electric candles that dimly lit the gilded hall. Acolyte Yuri stood in the armory, receiving new power packs for his laspistol from a techpriest. He grabbed a boltgun and some ammunition, and nearly simultaneously with the knights and the sister, headed towards the bridge where the inquisitor was waiting.

Two teams were to be inserted, the Inquisitor and _R__ighteous Vengeance_, plus the sister would be deployed to an identified landing site near the ancient relic, to sieze it and return to the ship. Simultaneously, Acolyte Yuri would lead the team of knights to the primary summoning site atop the carapace of the fallen Imperator titan, collapsed into the walls of the fortress to end the summoning once and for all.

The massive doors opened, and a lone inquisitorial thunderhawk departed _Unyielding Wrath_. At the same time, the teleportarium engaged and transported the second strike team to the walls of the heretical bastion. At first, the mission seemed to go smoothly. The deflagration beam from the fellglaive proved more than sufficient to clean out the Dark Mechanicus agents and heretical marines surrounding the power supply, and Katherine and Silvana turned to proceed to join forces with Yuri to halt the summoning rituals, the power core safely in their hands and void shields protecting the fortress fallen. Behind them, brilliant lances ionized air, hardened ferrocrete, and heretic alike as the inquisitorial battle barge rained its vengeance on those who turned from the Emperor's light. Thousands of tanks and hundreds of thousand guardsmen immediately began the assault from the outside of the fort, a shadowsword's volcano cannon vaporizing the now unshielded gate and the tramp of their feet and roar of the engines echoing across the wasted plain.

On the walls, Grey Knights slew heretics in droves, nemesis force weapons obliterating the heads of cultists and traitor marines in droves, while Yuri swung his power sword as they fought their way along the rampart and up to the deck of the titan's carapace. Before them, they could see the prisoners lined up to be sacrificed, a dark sorcerer standing before the summoning circle. He thought of his own recruitment into the inquisition, he had been a platoon commander, whose regimental commander had turned traitor, killed the commissar, and planned to sacrifice all the troopers under his command to the fell powers. Yuri had, all those years ago, lead his platoon into command tent and shot the heretical officer in the head with his laspistol, and hours later, found himself and his entire platoon as "assistance" to Inquisitor Katherine. Along the way, everyone else has died, usually is horribly gruesome ways (like being gutted by a greater daemon of Khorne). For that matter, he realized everybody the Inquisitor recruits into her retinue dies, usually within 2 missions. He and the Silvana had been the longest surviving members of her retinue. Probably because she believed inquisitors should be "Big Damn Heroes", blasting their way through heretics, xenos, and daemons to inspire the populace on to greater acts of faith. His musings were abruptly cut short by a blast from a still-functional volcano cannon mounted on the carapace of the titan, the superlaser rendering him and his entire squad little more than vapor.

Katherine and Silvana were picking their way through the wreckage of the fortress, when the radio feed to Yuri and his squad abruptly died.

"The Ordo is going to restrict your access to their chamber militant if you keep losing them," Silvana commented.

"It can wait. Since they failed, we'll have to get down there ourselves. Use your melta pistol to burn through these support members here; we'll make a ramp to get my tank down to the titan."

Moments later, a scream or tortured metal, followed by a reverberating crash and an earth-shaking explosion, signified the tower of the fortress had fallen into place on the carapace of the titan, reducing several of the tainted weapon emplacements, plus the Tzeenchian sorcerer and his sacrifices, to a flattened pancake of blood and bonded adamantine. Out of a puddle of blood and molten metal rose a hideous form, vaguely bird-shaped with wings and a beaked head, but standing on two legs with massive talons cover in warpfire.

"Shit, just what we needed. More daemons," deadpanned Katherine, "fire the hunter-killer missile; now!"

In the span of seconds, Sister Silvana had sighted the missile through the targeting auspex, mashed the activation rune, and sent the single-use antitank missile shrieking through the fouled air, where it blew a chunk out of the right side of the daemon's head, warp tainted brain matter and skeletal structure splattering across the corrupted metal decking. Moments later, a massive glowing white beam swept across the daemon's torso and the titan's tainted carapace, before the daemon's lower body was abruptly ground to miniscule bits of bone and ichor beneath 400 tons of adamantine-bonded ceramite.

As the upper half of the daemon disintegrated from the volkite beam, it rasped out, "just…as…planned," before expiring as little more than molecules.

"Damn. Emperor forgive my language, but whenever they say that, it means we aren't done yet."

Inquisitor Laurea responded by throwing the tank into full reverse while adding: "the volkite beam struck that vortex missile on the carapace! I might be able to make it to the wall-walk before it kills us all!"

A massive explosion rocked the fortress as a maelstrom of warp energy surrounded the now-airborne tank.

The explosion of the titan following the vortex missile's detonation blasted a several hundred meter wide breach in the fortress walls through which countless guardsmen and tanks stormed through, grinding heretics beneath their treads and purifying the tainted place with fire. On Holy Terra, the Bell of Lost Souls tolled for those lost.


	2. Chapter 2: Non-Imperial Humans

I doubt my writing improved, but this is rather entertaining. I decided to move the battle for horizon to my next chapter so I can revise it and hopefully add in graphic descriptions of people and aliens getting reduced to gibbets. Now this one feels short. I read some precedents on Warhammer 40k people entering Mass Effect, and am surprised that I haven't seen the Warhammer people join Cerberus or put more effort into dealing with (I mean killing outright in a crusade of violence and glory) the xenos. I can justify lack of immediate violence here because everyone is human. In other news, my guardsmen wiped out a chaos force with only 3 casualties. I am still repainting them to look nicer.

I OWN NO COPYRIGHT HERE. WARHAMMER 40K BELONGS TO GW, AND MASS EFFECT BELONGS TO BIOWARE

* * *

**Location Unidentified**

"Damn. I feel like I just got hit by a Colossus," muttered Lord Inquisitor Katherine Laurea as she came to within the turret of her fellglaive, _Righteous Vengeance_. After the auspex reassured her that the air outside, was, in fact, breathable she popped up the turret hatch and stuck her head out to get a better look around. Sister Seraphim Silvana was already outside, sitting with her powered-armored legs dangling off the side of the tank over the starboard side quad lascannon sponson, her head bowed in prayer.

"Thank you my Emperor for delivering us from the claws of the daemons and foul dark gods," she intoned softly, "may you continue to protect us in our future."

"Ave Imperator. May He protect us," responded Katherine. After a pause, she added, "Let's get moving. We need to locate a city so we can call for pick up. This looks like an agri-world or a paradise-world; there should be an outpost nearby."

"Run an auspex scan. See if it finds anything. I'll get back in the tank."

Moments later, _Righteous Vengeance_'s auspex array had delivered its verdict. A small collection of buildings lay approximately 150 kilometers in the north-northeast direction. The two imperials roared off aboard a 400 ton war machine in search of what they hoped was human civilization.

**Horizon Command Center**

Operations Chief Ashley Williams stood on a deck overlooking the colonies; it was still dark. Sensors had been temporarily scrambled several hours earlier; the source had been pinpointed to a likely anomalous effect some 150 kilometers south of the colony. She was on the verge of tearing out her hair with the colonists; she had been dispatched to oversee installation of a network of GARDIAN laser point defense guns at the colony in response to the disappearance of other colonies in this region of space. And even with the recent sensor anomaly, the fiercely independent colonists still refused to help her calibrate the guns; as such they were still standing silent, even if the source of the mysterious disappearances, attributed to Cerberus, decided to invade. She raised a pair of binoculars to her eyes and continued to scan the countryside. She had sent three armed and armored colonists with a M35 Mako to locate the source of the anomaly, and report back, after much difficulty. The Systems Alliance didn't even have the foresight to send her a platoon of soldiers in case situations like this arose. The only way it could get worse is for Cerberus decide to show its 3 faces here. Inside a radio crackled.

"Hey Op Chief, we found your 'anomaly'. It's some sort of frakhuge tank thing, and its coming this way. Damn thing must have, like, 10 guns! Were pullin' out before it sees us; it can't possibly be a friendly. I don't know of any Alliance tank like that thing! It's two and a half times taller, twice as wide and twice as long as the Mako and has one hell of a cannon!"

"Mako team, I read you," the operations chief replied, "get back here, but keep a watch on it. What's your current location?"

"Something like 50 kilometers south of the colony. The thing ain't fast though. It'll get to the city in 2 hours or so; it seems to be coming straight here."

**Location Unidentified**

"Ground car of some sort on the auspex Inquisitor, not a design I'm familiar with. They're withdrawing; do you want me to lay a warning shot off their nose with a lascannon?"

"Sure, but don't scare them off, we want to talk to them; they probably haven't ever seen anything bigger than a PDF chimera before."

A quad-lascannon sponson swung smoothly in its mount, as electrical power flooded the lascannons, exciting electrons in the solid-state matter of the laser generator, releasing a spectrum of light as they returned to their low energy state which was focused through a series of precision lenses and high-efficiency mirrors to form a concentrated beam of electromagnetic radiation in multiple discreet frequencies that ionized the atmosphere along its route in a flash of light and extreme heat.

**50 Kilometers South of Horizon Colony**

A cluster of 4 brilliant lines flashed mere meters in front of the speeding M-35 Mako. The driver slammed on the brakes and skidded to a halt.

"Op-Chief, read me! This is Mako team! The tank just fired some sort of laser-cannon right in front of us! There is a person sticking his head out of the turret hatch; I think he wants to talk. We'll bring him to you."

Minutes later, the gargantuan fellglaive rumbled up next to the parked "battle taxi".

"Ave Imperator, Hoc est, Dominum Inquisitor Katherine Laurea. Praefectumque praesidii me ad te, volo dicere Praesidii Planetarum loci imperium. Etenim, quod planeta est hoc?"

"Op chief! The tank commander is an armored woman, with the most blinged-out armor I've ever seen. She's speakin' what sounds like Latin, or some other ancient language, but she's definitely human. I think she wants to talk to you, but something about her and her tank gives me the creeps, as if something is wrong with 'er."

One of the colonists aboard the Mako debarked. "Ma'am, follow us, we'll take ya to the op-chief." He waved his arm to gesture that the massive tank should follow them.

"Intelligo. Sequimur te. Tibi gratias ago pro auxiliis vestries," and a nod of acknowledgement signified that the armored woman had at least understood his intent. The colonist climbed back into the Mako, and the small convoy set off.

**Location Unknown**

"Can you figure out what dialect of Low Gothic they speak here, Silvana?" Katherine asked.

"I don't pretend to be in an Order Dialogus. It sounds like one of the Merican dialects, but I don't have the training to speak it or recognize it with any precision."

"We'll just follow them to their HQ. They'll have someone who speaks High Gothic or at least standard Low Gothic there. Emperor protect us."

**Horizon Command Center**

"If this lady was aiming for a shock-and-awe arrival, she most definitely got it," mused Williams. She had updated her omni-tool's English to Latin translation database so as to be able to speak to this armored woman.

Her arrival had created quite a stir. Actually, that would have been an understatement. More than half the colony's population has lined the streets or peered out the windows of buildings to watch the enormous vehicle rumble down the street towards the headquarters. Williams looked up at the tank as it rolled to a halt before the entrance to the command center. It was a polished light grey color. It had tracks, something which had been discarded in favor of wheeled APCs after the discovery of eezo and the Prothean Archive on Mars, that appeared to form a complete loop around the outside of the hull of the tank, though armored coverings protected the portion along the deck. It was vaguely oblong in shape, with a higher rear section than front. On the flank was emblazoned a stylized, two headed bird above a large, deep red, stylized "I". Slightly rear of the center on each side hung a cluster of 4 gun barrels, each of which was easily larger than primary gun of the Mako and few by a massive armored power conduit. Above them was written _Righteous Vengeance_ in stylized script. In the hull appeared to be two more cannons, slightly smaller than those on the side and fixed in place, but none the less menacing. The turret was roughly dome shaped, like the head of a mushroom, and centered near the rear of the tank. The tank was dominated by the massive weapon mounted in the turret. A massive, rectangular gun barrel was mounted in the turret, with massive, armored recoil absorbers near the point it attached to the turret. Coils along its length glowed menacingly. The aperture of the barrel was tarnished a slight purple color from use. The back of the turret was mostly a massive armored assembly, no doubt related to the gargantuan weapon system. A hatch sat on the right hand side of the turret. Pintle mounted on the hatch's slewing ring was a double barreled weapon with bores the size of light cannons, and what must have been a box of ammunition below it. A complex sensor array took up the top of the left side of the turret.

Ashley had a bad feeling about this vehicle, and apparently, so did the populace, because nobody was willing to stand within 50 meters of the thing. Was it the gold trim on what must have been every edge? The ominous name? The prominent and ominous motifs or birds of prey and skulls? The massive arsenal that could no doubt engage with a small space ship and win?

The hatch atop the turret opened almost simultaneously with the one over the driver's compartment. A woman with grey, ornate armor with improbably large shoulder pads, also decorated with the red "I", golden bird of prey, and skull motifs, climbed out of the tank, and stood on the deck above the nameplate. The armor was also contoured to her form, with gold trim everywhere, just like the tank. A book, a scabbard with an ornate sword cross-guard hilt protruding from it, and a blocky pistol with a bore as wide as the pintle-mounted gun on the tank hung from the woman's waist, attached by gold chains and magnetic clamps. Her face showed her to be likely little more than 30 years old, but her eyes had a resolve only gained through years of combat in them.

Her comrade climbed out of the driver's hatch. She had armor of a similar style, but a large jet-pack stylized to appear as wings on her back. Her armor also lacked the gold trim, but retained the bird of prey and skull motifs. One shoulder pad featured a gold fleur-de-lis. She had on her waist a multitude of pistols, one of which appeared to be a handheld flamethrower and another that had a large, slatted cylinder that might have been a death ray or something equally diabolical. A pair of pistols similar to the tank commander's also hung at her waist, alongside a much smaller pistol that still looked considerably larger than any "normal" gun. Her black hair was cut to neck-length, and she had a hard set expression of one who had seen combat many times before and wouldn't hesitate to use her oversized guns on anybody or anything. Something about this woman felt off, almost horrifying. Williams realized that she was the source of dread that seemed to surround the tank earlier, but stood her ground. She had to be presentable while representing the Systems Alliance to these mysterious strangers.

**Outpost Command Center, Unknown Planet**

Katherine popped the hatch and vaulted over the pintle-mounting rail to stand on the deck above the sponson. Silvana climbed out of the driver's hatch a moment later. A woman in very light armor stood before the tank, the only person standing within Silvana's null field. Her white and red armor looked almost like plastic, as if it was to offer a token protection as a ceremonial piece; event he kinetic impact from a light autogun round would shatter it. Katherine couldn't think of any PDF or Imperial Guard unit that used armor like that, most wore their Flak plates under their suits, with another thick layer of flak padding on top to make a set of armor effective at stopping light weapons. Most regiments treated their combat uniforms as their dress uniforms. She appeared to be trying to look confident in the face of an Inquisitorial investigation.

"You must be the Planetary Defense Force commander. I need to contact my order's HQ; we were caught in a warp accident."

"Planetary Defense Force? Heh. Only 'force' here is me, and the GARDIAN defense lasers," replied the soldier through her wrist translator, "and those aren't even calibrated. Damn colonists won't help with their own defense."

"Captain, I need to contact my battle-barge. I can get the Mechanicus to fix your defense guns later. First I need to talk to _Unyielding Wrath_ and find out where I am."

"I ain't a captain. Just Operations Chief; I'm a non-comm. Op-Chief Ashley Williams, N7. I don't know of any _Unyielding Wrath_, Mechanicus, or any ship class called "battle-barge". Also, you're on Horizon, a little backwater colony in the Terminus Systems. Who are you, anyway; certainly not Cerberus."

"Lord Inquisitor Katherine Laurea, Ordo Malleus of the Inquisition of His most holy Imperium of Man," gesturing to Silvana, Katherine added, "This is my assistant, Sister Seraphim Silvana of the Order of the Argent Shroud. By the Immortal God-Emperor's will, we have been spared certain death at the hands of the denizens of the Warp and arrived here in good condition. I must contact the commanders of my Order for retrieval."

"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but I know of no 'Inquisition' or 'Ordo Malleus', nor any nation called the 'Imperium of Man'. And none of those sound particularly pleasant anyway, as if they come from the darkest places in human history. Now come with men, I need to notify Alliance brass of your arrival."

"What do you mean you know nothing of the glory of the Emperor and his Imperium! That is blasphemy and heresy, none of which will be tolerated and will be cleansed with fire and prejudice!" interjected Silvana, her armored hand moving to her hand flamer, "What is this Alliance, some unholy union of traitors and vile xeno?"

"Sister, stand down. They may be forgiven for their ignorance, for I entertain theories as to our arrival and our differences. I shall inform you of them after we have a little more information and slight privacy." Katherine gently pushed Silvana's hand away from her belt of weapons, "Let nobody touch our tank, but don't shoot them. I will negotiate." She turned to Williams, "Forgive my comrade, lead on."

**Inside Horizon Command Post Communications Room**

Ashley pulled a chair up perpendicular to a holo-map of the system resting her arm on the edge of the display, and gestured for Katherine to do the same.

"I'll stand. My power armor would probably damage your chairs. Now, to business, and before your notify your superiors, do you have a galactic map?"

Ashley manipulated the display, bringing up a holographic map of the galaxy. "So, where is this 'Imperium' you claim to come from. How do I know you aren't some loony who stole the latest Alliance tank project, not that yours looks like any tank from within a hundred years?"

"The glorious Imperium of Man spans the whole galaxy, from the far reaches of Segmentum Ultima to the Halo Stars, from Gryphonne to the Ghoul Stars, the banner of humanity stands defiant against those that would see us cast down: the vile and traitorous heretic, the scheming and brutal xeno, and the wretched and deformed mutant. My tank is a relic from the great crusades, a vehicle ten-thousand years old; one that has seen a hundred-thousand wars, with mighty guns capable of laying waste to entire armies and grinding their ashes beneath its bonded-ceramite treads."

"No human tank could be ten-thousand years old. We've barely had tanks for two hundred years. And I assure you, there is no galaxy-spanning empire of humanity. You sound like a Cerberus operative. Our closest analogue is the Citadel council, which the Systems Alliance is proud to represent humanity on. You must be mistaken, but your armor, weapons, and vehicle incline me to think otherwise. Unless Cerberus has some new projects."

"There were many world lost after the Dark Age of Technology. You're probably on one of the few, cut off by warp storms, which managed to re-establish space travel. I assure you the glorious Imperium protects all humanity from the predation of the xeno and the heretic, and spans the galaxy. A huge number of worlds were lost during the Age of Strife, and because of the vagaries of warp travel, many have remained undiscovered. However, we rarely find any that have space going abilities."

"There is no Imperium! I've never heard of one; the Citadel Council has explored almost the entirety of the galaxy, and there is not a single entity known as the 'Imperium of Man'. Just the Systems Alliance!"

The two operatives stood silently staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity. The imperial mentally analyzed every feature of the room and her diplomatic opposite. She noted the iconography, the materials used in construction, the monochrome holograms, the light armor, the cogitators, the galactic map, the vox arrays, and the non-gothic architecture. The Alliance officer looked over her opposites ornate armor, sigils, chains, skull motifs, gold trim, finely crafted blade hilt, and brutal looking gun. Both saw their opposite as seemingly out of place in the universe; one saw a self-righteous xenophobic in an optimistic universe of improving peace and diplomatic relations, the other saw a naïve soldier inadequately prepared for the horrors of the material and immaterial realms and the treachery of the xenos one may call "friend".

"I have a new theory to explain our appearance. Where are we on this map and what year is it?"

Williams gestured to a star on the map. "It's 2185. Why? If you say time travel I'm calling bullshit."

"Because of the nature of warp travel, we've actually sometimes had ships respond to their own distress calls. I think we transgressed timelines. Similar to jumping to the Warp, we crossed the dimensional boundary between alternate timelines while in the Immaterium and ended up here."

"Bullshit. I've never heard of an Immaterium, Warp, or dimensional travel."

"I've trained since my entrance into my order in the properties of the Warp; most of what I know is highly classified. I can tell you that the Warp is more than just faster-than-light travel. It is an alternate dimension where time and space have little meaning, allowing one to enter and exit at different locations with varying time spent in transit. The longer the distance you want to go and the time you spend in the Warp, the greater the temporal displacement has a chance to be. A ship's Gellar Field acts to create a 'shield' against the Warp; creating a bubble of normal space around the ship so it isn't destroyed and rent from existence by the Immaterium. Anything more descriptive than that is highly classified by my order. My team and I fought and destroyed a vile creation of the Warp on the deck of a titan; we set off a Vortex Missile, which creates a Warp Vortex throwing everything in its blast radius into the Warp uncontrollably, where it is destroyed."

"That still sounds like the kind of bullshit that comes from old sci-fi vids. But if being thrown into this 'Warp' without a shield is instantly fatal, how did you get here then? You should be dead."

"Sister Silvana is a psychic blank, or pariah. Her existence cancels out the Warp near her, thus, her null field created a sort of Gellar Field around us. The turbulence from the vortex missile could have easily thrown us across timelines. She has no soul, which is why the colonists all move away from her; her soullessness hid me and my tank from the effects of the Warp."

"How can someone not have a soul, and how does soullessness affect this Warp? Your story sounds a lot like magic from some fairy tale was mixed with some crappy sci-fi vid."

"Fine, then I appeared out of thin air with technology the likes of which you've never seen and a story about the glories of humanity. Now, why would your command send a single officer without troops or engineers to put together a defense laser? You're an intelligence agent, and I will know why you are here."

"I'm here to supervise installation of the GARDIAN guns because Cerberus has been causing our colonies to disappear. Anything else would be classified."

Katherine removed her gilded hand cannon from its mag-lock on her waist, removed the ammunition clip, and set in on the table with a thud.

"This is a ceremonial bolt pistol. It fires .75 caliber, caseless, self propelled, adamantine-tipped, sanctified, exploding psy-bolts. This will reduce its target to little more than a fine mist with a single shot, while rending its very soul from existence. Nothing is classified to a Lord Inquisitor. Now, why are you here?"

"Your intimidation doesn't work or win you any friends, Inquisitor. It is the kind of thing Cerberus would try, and you'd be arrested for murder of a Systems Alliance officer."

"If you were really here to defend the colony against this Cerberus you keep speaking of, you would have a complement of soldiers, not just a set of non-operational defense lasers. I can help you get them running if you tell me why you are here, of I can shoot you with my boltgun and read your orders. I'm a Lord Inquisitor; that means I hold authority above the law, to pursue any course of action, no matter how drastic, to protect humanity from the predation of the xeno, mutant, and heretic, wherever humanity may exist. Thus I will, with the Emperor's grace, continue to perform my eternal task to protect humanity here, even away from my Emperor and Imperium, which I cannot do while you withhold information, which I will eventually get whether you resist or not, it is just easier to get it from you, and has less repercussions; so please, why were you deployed here?"

"How will I know that you won't shoot me after I tell you, and that I won't be divulging secrets to Cerberus? I still don't believe that bullshit about dimensional travel."

A click was the only sound in the room for a moment as Katherine placed her boltgun back on its mag-lock. "There. I won't shoot you. And if you pass me a vox-relay for this outpost's vox casters, I can get your defense guns calibrated."

"What the hell is a vox? My translator failed to interpret that."

"A vox is a device used to communicate long distances with audio and sometimes visual signals, a variant is used to issue orders across a city block, amplifying the user's voice."

"A PA system? Why can't you just damn say so? Here." Williams handed Katherine a microphone for the colony's PA system.

Inquisitor Laurea inspected the device for a moment. "How does it work?"

"Seriously? Hold down the button on the side to talk."

"Ah, I see. Can I attach your translator to it?"

"I can program the system to translate your Latin into English."

"Good, do that."

Outside, the public address system came to life. "All persons within this outpost relevant to the calibration of the defense laser system will report to the Horizon Command Facility in exactly one-half hour. This outpost is now under a military alert state by order of Lord Inquisitor Katherine Laurea of the Ordo Malleus, any who willfully obstruct the completion of the defense laser system through failure to comply with the aforementioned directive will receive an appropriate military punishment as per Imperial Military Directive 385792635X.274836A Regarding Non-Compliance to Inquisitorial Authority, ranging from non-judicial imprisonment to summary execution. Complaints may be filed through Adeptus Administratum form CP408273.147293, available at the nearest Administratum offices. Appropriate recompense from 100 to 300 thrones will be mailed to closest surviving kin within 250 standard imperial years of receipt of form by Administratum adepts. For the Emperor."

"Really? Did you just make that up? Do you need to threaten the colonists? They came here to get away from the bureaucracy of the Alliance. And I'm sure you don't have the same authority here."

"No, I just memorized that speech over time because I end up having to give it so often when entitled planetary nobles on feudal worlds and rogue trader starship captains refused to comply with my requests and hindered my investigations. Once I filed a request for and received one of the Black Ships for my work, it rarely came to that because a simple threat worked much better and lead to less paperwork, but I still had to use it periodically. It was easier to remember a set speech that can be adapted to any situation than have an adept find the form numbers every time I had to commandeer an armed merchantman. My authority as a Lord Inquisitor is constant wherever I go. Now, why are you here? Or do you wish me make use of the authority granted by that military directive?"

"No. I was actually sent here to supervise the installation of the GARDIAN array and to defend the colony against Cerberus. I was also supposed to investigate reports of my former comrade working for Cerberus."

"Who is this Cerberus; you keep speaking of them."

"Cerberus is a human supremacist terrorist organization. They abduct people and perform experiments on them to further their own goals, not humanity's. They have spies everywhere and are one of the most prevalent terrorist organizations in the galaxy and frequently make attacks against developed planets and operate clandestine illegal projects. They are well funded."

"And you are supposed to kill your former comrade because he or she is suspected to be abducting colonists for a human supremacist organization, and betrayed the government of humanity. Wouldn't it have been smarter to send someone who didn't know this traitor on a personal level?"

"The thing is, he died. I was with him. Our ship was destroyed by an unidentified cruiser, and he saved the rest of us by getting us to the escape pods before the ship was destroyed. He was spaced, but his body was never found with the wreckage. Now we have reports that he not only survived being spaced, but has returned as an operative for Cerberus. I was sent here to investigate this, as well as to oversee the installation of the GARDIAN guns. It is expected that he will show up here eventually, and I am supposed to talk to him to clarify this. He has a reputation as being ruthless in pursuit of his goals. He murdered the entire population of a Batarian outpost, even as they were surrendering, as revenge for a raid by them on one of our outposts."

"I've heard of people surviving death, usually through the favor of the Emperor. He sounds like he would make a good imperial general or Inquisitor if he hadn't had turned. Do you have any other information on him, or Cerberus in general? Do you have a database that I can review?"

"His name is John Shepard; he used to be a SPECTRE, which is a post like you claim to have. You can access the Extranet from that terminal over there." She gestured to a terminal on the wall."

"Extranet?"

"It is a network of data communication made by tiny mass relays to allow instantaneous spread of information. You may be right about your dimensional travel crap, but I still am skeptical. You may just be a loony, but you definitely aren't Cerberus."

"Why would you have something like that? It is much simpler to just file an appropriate information request form with the Administratum or Mechanicus. Astropathic communication is reserved for Imperial officials like Inquisitors, Imperial Guard Generals, Techmagi, Administratum Officers, and Fleet Admirals. Letters work fine for civilian needs, and are much safer for all involved. Plus, such a network, when experimented with on a planetary scale, was a directly contributing factor in the test planet's fall."

"The military gets priority on the extranet relays."

"I see some sense here, but why willingly allow people to spread possibly seditious information? Don't answer that; I don't want to know."

The Lord Inquisitor strode over to the extranet terminal, dismissing Williams temporarily.

"Database: query. Display all information regarding Systems Alliance."

"Here, let me help."

After a 5 minute demonstration by Ashley on the use of the terminal, Katherine began previewing basic information about the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Council. What she saw was heresy on so large a scale she had no words to describe it. At least they weren't worshipping the dark gods. She mentally chastised herself: "These people haven't been introduced to the Emperor's Light and His creed. They have not yet seen the treachery of the xeno, or the vile actions of the heretic. They will learn, and we will save them."

"By the way, do you have a device that can produce a hard copy of your calibration instructions?"

**Outside Horizon Colony Command Post, 15 minutes later**

Assembled in the street and open area was a collection of disgruntled colonists, a gargantuan tank, a Sister Seraphim, a Lord Inquisitor, and an Operation's Chief.

"The assembled will form up into ranks! Where I come from, everyone would be standing in straight lines, by hab-block! Anyone out of line could be shot!"

The colonists rapidly formed up.

"Who put you in charge! And this ain't where you came from miss gold and silver armor! Why should we do what she says! She ain't even Alliance!"

A sanctified bolt penetrated the protester's skull, its mass-reactive core detonating and reducing his body above the waist to small chunks and a fine mist. Brain matter splattered upon the ground, as did pieces of organs that had been blown free by the shell. The arms landed separately from the legs, twisted and bleeding.

"Any more questions?"

There was a quiet murmuring, and nobody else stepped forward. Ashley grimaced at the spectacle, and prayed that an Alliance ship would come soon to pick this crazy dictator and her soulless assistant up and take her off her hands. Admittedly, though, she had brought the colonists into line.

"You are now under the orders of Operations Chief Ashley Williams for the completion of the defense laser batteries! Failure to assist to your full measure will result in summary execution!"

The Operations Chief stepped forward as the Katherine stepped back next to Silvana.

"I will divide you into equal groups, one for each GARDIAN turret! Proceed to the specified turret! I have instructions, calibration protocol programs, and equipment required behind me in the command center! Now, Sound off!"

As the colonists counted themselves off, Ashley divided them into groups while Silvana and Katherine distributed directions and equipment.

"Form up and fall out! Re-assemble once calibration is complete!"

**Outside Horizon Colony Command Post, 3 Hours Later.**

Katherine had spent the time researching the local government institutions and informing Silvana of their situation. She also kept Silvana from shooting Ashley and destroying everything with her hand flamer. With a rudimentary knowledge of the Systems Alliance and Citadel Council, they returned outside to supervise the return of the equipment and colonists.

"The current military alert state has been canceled. This colony is to return to normal function and duty with all due haste. The Emperor protects. Assembled, dismissed!"

Katherine, Silvana, and Ashley walked back into the command post. Inside, Silvana knelt and bowed her head in prayer.

"Emperor forgive us. We tread on hazardous ground, and in desperate times. We have to spare those who consort with the xenos. May we seek our redemption, and redeem the souls of those here who have not seen your light or heard your creed. We will do our sacred duty; grant us your grace in out endeavors. Ave Imperator."

"May He protect us. Ave Imperator."

"Amen," Ashley added out of respect. "You can wait here until an Alliance ship arrived to pick you up. You can talk to the brass when they arrive. You can park your tank in the motor pool. I'd love to have our engineers look at it, but I bet you'd shoot some more of us if we do. Thanks for getting them to calibrate the GARDIAN guns, but damn, you're brutal."


	3. Chapter 3: Xenos

Hi, I posted more.

I don't own anything GW and Bioware own stuff. The "prayer" was collated from Thoughts for the Day found on the internet, various speeches are inspired by the speeches/taunts from Dawn of War (SS and DC) stronghold missions.

* * *

**Horizon Colony Command Post**

A warning from the sensor array disrupted the tasks of the three women inside the room.

"Unidentified ship detected. Fails to respond to identification requests."

"Damn. This must be Cerberus coming to abduct us. Thanks Katherine for getting the guns working in time. Let's blast 'em out of the sky!"

"We do our duty to the Emperor. Now, I need the Vox system again."

"Let me place a distress call first. Then you can have it."

Ashley sent out her SOS and passed the microphone to Lord Inquisitor Laurea.

Katherine thumbed the activation rune. Again, for the second time today, her voice echoed across the expanses of the small city, startling and annoying colonists.

"Attention people of Horizon! An unidentified hostile vessel has entered the system. This colony is now under military authority by order of Lord Inquisitor Katherine Laurea of the Ordo Malleus. All combat capable personnel will report immediately to their battle stations, in full combat armor and loadout. Vehicle crews are to report to their vehicles and move to defensive positions. All personnel not capable of performing combat duties will proceed immediately to shelters. All doors and windows are to be barricaded against possible threat. Failure to comply will result in death. I repeat; this colony is now under military authority. All personnel, man your battle stations, prepare to defend against orbital attack! Defense laser batteries prepare to intercept assault craft," the Lord Inquisitor paused momentarily, "men and women of Horizon! Today an enemy comes for us, as they have come for other colonies! They think they are assured of victory, they can practically taste it! But they do not realize that we are not those other colonies! We are prepared! We have at our disposal our mighty defensive guns recently completed by our own hands! We have a venerable warmachine the likes of which have never been seen! We will not fall today, we will not give them a single step! We will strike them down with prejudice unmatched! Our tanks will grind them to dust beneath their mighty treads! Our defense guns will make the sky rain with their burning assault ships! All will be ready, we will be prepared in mind, body, and soul! We will drive them back to their homeworld and lay waste to it with cleansing fire from on high! Our divine wrath will make them regret they ever crossed the might of humanity! Our faith, in ourselves, in our comrades, in our guns, in our gods, is strong; my Emperor watches over and protects us, and so do your gods! Today we will triumph over this foe, and crush them utterly! Today will be our victory day!"

Silvana stood and faced Katherine and Ashley.

"Could we connect our tank's vox to this system, so we may issue orders in battle?"

"Yeah. Here, you can just use the microphones. I'll link 'em to the PA systems," Ashley paused, "do you really think we can hold 'em with just these colonists and our GARDIAN guns? I placed a call for reserves, but they won't get here soon."

"Have faith in yourself and your men. With the Emperor's favor we will prevail. We shall slay them in His name."

"You can ride with us in _Righteous Vengeance_ and observe your men. Let's move, it's better to lead from the front and be a symbol to all."

As the trio walked out the doors they could see the colonists running forth, children and the elderly running to attack shelters underground, able-bodied men a women suiting up in the armory, and assault rifle toting colonists running to the perimeter. A Grizzly tank rolled by along the main road, while a Mako rolled up to the side for people to embark. People hauled metal plates and debris to form barricades in the street. The GARDIAN guns tracked across the sky, searching for targets. Armored men and women walked back and forth, checking their weapons before climbing into a Mako. Though it wasn't professional, fireteams were of random size weapons and armor weren't standardized, people moved relatively randomly to wherever they thought the attack would land, the Inquisitor and Sister were impressed. Morale was high, the colonists were confident, and there was no sign of panic or fear, just grim determination.

"Your speech did the trick. I think I believe your story now, I can't think of anything else, as stupid as it sounds. You sure instilled 'em with a fighting spirit."

A child, no more than six, ran up to the three, almost ignoring Silvana's null field in excitement.

"Will we really do all those things to them? Will they hurt us? Who is the Emperor? Will he protect me and mommy and daddy too? Can I fight too?"

Silvana patted him on the head, "They won't hurt us, and we will win. The Emperor is the god of humanity. We come from far away, and were sent here by him to save you. He protects all humans; he sees all from his golden throne." She handed him a small pistol from the collection of weapons that had been brought out. "Here, have a gun, and grab some armor from over there. The Emperor will protect you."

He ran off to get some armor.

"You know, Silvana, only a Cadian or Catachan would be comfortable sending a six year old to war. Without training, he'll probably be a liability."

"Where you come from, do little kids fight?" interjected Ashley, horrified.

"Not usually, but in some places, they train from birth."

They reached where Silvana had parked the fellglaive.

"Silvana will be using her pistols, sword, and jetpack. Williams, you can climb in the front hatch there. Technically, it's the driver's hatch, but I can also control the tank from here in the commander's cupola so you can use the secondary armament. There is a heavy bolter and 8 lascannon. If you can't figure it out, just watch from there.

"Lascannon, as in laser cannon?"

"Yes."

"Wait, if your _secondary_ is a directed energy laser, what the _hell_ is the big ass one on the turret? When the investigation team called in, I thought it was the big one you had fired."

"A Volkite Carronade. It disintegrates anything in its path."

"A _disintegrator ray_? Bullshit; that must be the most absurd thing I've heard today, even more absurd than your time travel bullshit. Okay, maybe not that, but still..."

"Shut up, climb in, and man the guns. I'll explain more and answer what questions I can after we win."

The tank rolled out down the street, Katherine standing in the commander's cupola, her sword drawn, Silvana riding on the deck checking her guns, and Williams inside the tank watching the view screens. It was a relatively simple matter to designate targets, and the tanks "machine spirit" VI would take care of aiming and firing.

"The most likely landing place is in that field outside over there. We should move there."

The tank rolled up to a makeshift barricade, a Mako parked several meters over, and a team of some 30 colonists hiding behind their makeshift barricade.

Silvana jumped off the tank and walked out beyond the barricade. There she knelt and bowed her head.

"Take this moment before battle for prayer. You may join me if you wish."

The colonists behind their barricades knelt and bowed as well, but mostly out of respect. Stillness spread over the colony. The only sound heard was Silvana's soft chanting over the PA.

"Where there is uncertainty, I shall bring light.  
Where there is doubt, I shall sow faith.  
Where there is shame, I shall point atonement.  
Where there is rage, I shall show its course  
My word in the soul shall be as my bolter in the field.  
Born in darkness, a dream given life,  
Holy warriors to bring forth the light.  
Armed with zeal, armored with faith,  
Gods of battle at the fore of the fight.  
Swords of the emperor, shields of mankind,  
destined for war, fated for death.  
Protectors of the weak, slayers of evil,  
we fight 'til we draw our last dying breath  
There is no retreat, there is no surrender,  
our hate of the foe drives us eternally on  
while aliens live, while heresy festers,  
there can be no peace until the last war is won.  
Strengthen your heart harden your soul,  
launch yourself gladly into death's hungry maw.  
There is no time for peace, no respite, no forgiveness.  
There is only war.  
Emperor protect us,  
grant us victory in your name.  
Ave Imperator."

Silvana walked back to the line, and stood before the tank. The colonists stood in silence, waiting. There was not a sound but the wind in the whole colony.

Men and women stood behind their barricades with their guns ready, making not a sound. A few Mako and Grizzly tanks stood at ready, their guns trained downrange. The GARDIAN guns searched the sky slowly, looking for targets. Colonists lay on the roofs, scanning the ground below. For a time, the entire colony was silent as its inhabitants prepared to defend against these unidentified invades with grim determination, reminiscent of a regiment of the Death Korps preparing to hold the line. Teens, adults, middle aged people, all prepared to die in the defense of their homes. Nobody was comfortable breaking the silence, lest they be the only one to talk. The wind whistled softly through the streets. Minutes passed slowly in anticipation of the battle to come.

Slowly, a low rumble was heard, as a speck appeared in the high atmosphere. The GARDIAN guns swung lazily to target it as it crept across the sky, growing bigger slowly, and glowing white hot in the head of atmospheric entry. The ground based defense cannons lashed out, infrared pulses of energy scoring the sides and armor of the incoming hostile ship. Blackened pockmarks appeared along the side on the incoming ship. It appeared as 3 long, organic spires on a metal superstructure, anchored at the base into a large armored cylinder section, ringed around 1/3 of the way from the engines by a partial ring of metal, with spikes at the cardinal points and smaller ones between those. The engines glowed as they brought the ship through the atmosphere, the components cooling as it slowed, the damage from the GARDIAN lasers becoming visible, the organic segments near the front scarred and armored plates near the stern rent with smoking black segments. The sustained laser bombardment had done some damage, but not nearly enough, as the ship slowly turned on end and began to settle onto the field outside the colony, a 500 meter tall spire of organic and metallic components, shrouded in smoke from the landing. The GARDIAN guns continued firing, trying in vain to do more than superficial damage to their target.

"Damn. Looks like Chaos got here already. Prepare to repel them with extreme prejudice. These are creatures of nightmares, fallen things that will take your soul and sacrifice it to their foul gods, and wish only to spill blood in their names! Those who forsook their faith and turned onto the path of heresy! Show them no mercy!" Katherine announced.

"Now, we have our vengeance for our fallen comrades! Stand firm against the forces of madness!" Silvana added.

"Huh?" Ashley replied, half listening, "This looks like the ship of aliens that destroyed my ship and killed Shepard. I'm pretty sure it doesn't belong to human traitors; we call 'em the Collectors."

"We have experience with the symbol the ring near the base makes, and it can only be the symbol of the ruinous powers. Anyway, are they going to launch more dropships?" Silvana radioed Katherine, who relayed the message to Ashley via the tank's internal vox.

"Dropships? That thing's a whole damn dreadnought they landed here! How would they have more dropships!"

"That thing you call a dreadnought is a third the size of a small destroyer! They have to have more of them!"

"Nope, that would be the only one."

"Nobody would attack with a single ship that small!"

The upright ship groaned; the cry of the metal echoing across the land. Tiny black clouds started filtering through the grey haze that surrounded the ship. The colonists in the trenches shifted on their feet nervously.

"Auspex reads incoming insectoid aerial swarm entity, similar to Tyranid Gargoyles, approaching fast. Any flamers to the front; give 'e, hell! Burn 'em all!" echoed through the colony loudspeakers.

Slightly confused flamethrower toting colonists understood and took point in their makeshift trenches, and prepared to engulf the arriving swarms in a cloud of cleansing fire. The GARDIAN lasers continued to pour fire over the heads of the colonists, blackening the side of the upright cruiser. Colonists brought their guns up as the buzzing swarm drew near the line. Colonists that had deployed to the opposite side of the colony loaded up into transports or began to walk over to reinforce the main line.

Small figures could be seen at the base of the upended ship, debarking for an attack.

"Ashley, check the auspex array again. I want a reading on the little guys at the base of that ship."

"They're vaguely insectoid, massing in large numbers."

"Okay, not chaos then. Good," switching to the PA system, "Hold your fire 'till they get close. We don't want any of the bastards to get away!"

Seconds felt like minutes as the swarms drew closer to the line, buzzing, sticking low to the ground.

They grew closer, almost on top of the line.

"Fire! All guns, Fire! Open up with everything we've got!"

Flames engulfed the seeker swarms as Firestorm flamethrowers lit up. Seekers popped as flames consumed them. A brilliant white beam shot down the length of the swarm meters ahead of the line, branching arcs leaping between the insectoid seekers, burning them apart from the inside out, disintegrating them utterly. Few bodies were left to be seen of the seeker swarm.

As the heat dissipation coils on the volkite carronade of _Righteous Vengeance_ returned to their dull grey color, the turret slewed around to focus on the line on the other side of her. Cutting it close, a second beam of deflagrating death was laid out, the pure white beam instantly atomizing all it touched, small arcs again leaping between individual organisms in the seeker swarm and reducing them to atomic vapor.

"Casualty check!" Ashley yelled over the PA.

"Main attack force inbound. Fire at will!" Katherine added.

"3 here, they've been paralyzed by those bugs things," A colonist radioed in.

"2 here, same story," another added.

"This area got none, thanks to that big death ray. What the _hell_ was that, anyway?"

Radio chatter picked up as colonists began to excitedly discuss what had happened and call for backup.

A M35 Mako rolled up next to the Fellglaive, debarking more colonists who were relocating from the other side of the colony.

"Radio silence! Hostiles inbound, range 2000 meters!"

Machineguns and assault rifles chattered. Sand size particles chipped off a block of metal and accelerated to hypersonic speeds sped downrange into the collector lines from Mattock and Avenger guns, ripping through the incoming bogies, while Revenant light machineguns sprayed suppressive fire out at the approaching army, a lethal hail of fire designed to pin the enemy in position so other weapons could bring them down easily.

Enemy assault rifles returned fire, as the enemy darted forward towards the line. A tetrad of violet lasbeams flashed through the air, ionizing everything along their path to plasma in instant.

"I got the hang of this designate-and-fire VI you've got here!"

"Fine, keep shooting!"

The chatter of the colonists' guns was nearly drowned out by the distinctive _cough-whoosh-BANG_ of the hull mounted heavy bolter as it unloaded its 1.50 caliber diamantine-tipped, armor-piercing, self-propelled, gyrostabilized rounds downrange, their mass-reactive warheads detonating as the massive shells ripped through armor, barrier, and flesh alike at 1000 rounds per minute.

"My god! Is this thing some sort of automatic rocket launcher?" Ashley questioned as a stream of bolt shells tore into a Collector drone, the force of the impacts throwing its victim backwards as it tore through the skin and bones before the detonating warheads exploded its body into chunky salsa; arms, legs, and organs blown free flying several meters as the nearby drones were drenched in its foul xenos blood. Other drones unfortunate enough to stray into the arc of fire were quickly served with similar fates as the heavy bolter cranked off its stream of divine retribution.

"It's a big version of my bolt pistol. I obviously lack replacement ammo; don't spend it all."

Sister Silvana danced over the battlefield, the thrust from her jump pack appearing as luminous angelic wings as she rolled and fired her hand flamer at those on the ground, dousing the foul xenos in white hot promethium, burning them to ashes in a matter of seconds. A trail of flaming corpses behind her, she pulled up into a hover and challenged: "Enemies of humanity! Look upon the visage of the Emperor's holy Seraphim and _despair_! For your doom comes swiftly on the wings of angels!" Shots peppered the air around her, glancing uselessly off her powered armor.

Below, a single drone amidst the swarm began to glow orange, appearing as if made of molten rock.

"Assuming direct control," rang from it in a low, almost synthesized voice.

Silvana dropped down from the sky, identifying the glowing one as a leader among them. She placed the hand flamer back on its mag-lock on her belt, drawing her inferno pistol as she did an aerial somersault and landed on her feet several meters away from the alien.

"I am _Harbinger_! Face your annihil…"

Silvana lined up her inferno pistol in one hand, sighting over the top of it into the alien's head, and pulled the trigger. Matter fusing at over 20 million degrees centigrade spat forth from the muzzle of her weapon in a tight beam of superheated gas, ripping through Harbinger's kinetic barriers and armor with impunity interrupting his would-be speech. The searing heat of the fusing plasma superheated the brain of the former Collector drone, which exploded in a cloud of superheated gore, turning the remains of its skull into a makeshift fragmentation grenade, blasting white-hot molten bone fragments outwards for meters that ripped through nearby Collectors. The extreme heat of the melta weapon flash-boiled the blood of the xeno, ripping its body apart into chunks of flying, flaming meat that scattered around the area for almost ten meters and coating any nearby survivors with slick alien gore.

Sister Silvana rose into the air on her glowing wings, and announced over the colony's PA: "Lo! Those who stand against the will of humanity and its Immortal Emperor shall fall! His faithful shall see them cleansed from the galaxy, and cast down into the pits of horrid void; their souls rent from existence, their bodies burned to ashes by the cleansing fire of His servants, their worlds laid to waste by our holy wrath, their memory destroyed by our righteous cause so none will even remember their existence! By the progenitor of my order, by the name of my namesake who stood before the Golden Throne of the Immortal Emperor on Holy Terra, who led innumerable crusades to cleanse the stars, and by the name of the Immortal Emperor himself who watches and guides humanity wherever it may exist, we will see these xenos utterly destroyed, rent by our holy weapons and crushed beneath our boots! To a crusade! To victory and glory undying!"

Along the line of battle, colonists redoubled their efforts, gunning down Collector Drones, Assassins, and Guardians alike. The Godhammer lascannons reaped a fearsome toll as their violet beams ripped through the aliens with impunity, bypassing barriers and destroying armor to vaporize the unfortunate it struck, their blood boiling and body burning, causing them to explode in a shower of blood and burnt body parts. The volkite carronade crackled, its beam arcing from Collector to Collector, burning them from the inside out. The GARDIAN lasers' infrared beams passed overhead to scar the hull of the enemy cruiser.

Slowly, the collectors began to withdraw towards their ship and the battle at the barricades seemed won; piles of dead collectors of many varieties lay about the fields as the guns of Makos and Grizzlies barked, colonists' rifles chattered, tetrads of lasbeams sliced through the surviving xenos and the pure white beams from the volkite carronade atomized swaths of aliens. The Seraphim flew over their retreating troops smothering them with flaming promethium. The field of battle stank of burning flesh, the burned out husks of various Collector forms littering the ground. Some colonists lay dead or incapacitated in the makeshift trenches, some crying for medigel, but not nearly as many as it could have been.

Smoke began to billow around the base of the upended Collector warship, as the engines glowed to attempt to push it off to return to space.

"They'll bombard us from orbit!" Operations Chief Williams yelled, "Bring it down!"

"Get a range check to target! Charge! Leave no survivors! Let none escape!"

"8 kilometers range!"

_Righteous Vengeance_ lurched forward, flanked by several Makos and Grizzlies. Colonists leaped over their makeshift barricades, running across the field, guns blazing. Silvana lead the charge, having exhausted the munitions for her hand flamer, and wishing to conserve boltgun and inferno pistol ammo, firing her laspistol through the ranks of the retreating foe.

"Range to target, 7 kilometers."

"Current atmospheric diffusion of lasbeams restricts effective range to slightly over 6 kilometers. Fire when ready."

Minutes later, an octet of brilliant violet lasbeams flashed out of the Godhammer lascannons towards the base of the alien ship, followed by the pure white beam of the volkite carronade. The GARDIAN lasers added their firepower to the onslaught, as did the guns on the fast moving Makos and Grizzlies ranging ahead of _Righteous Vengeance_.

The octet of lasbeams struck the armored side of the cruiser just above the engines. The weapons designed to crack tanks with adamantine-bonded ceramite armor that the biggest dreadnought spinal cannon of the Alliance Navy would barely be able to put a minor dent in tore through the thinner armor around the engines of the Collector cruiser, severing fuel feeds and destroying the pumps the fueled the engines. Spilling fuel lit around the base of the ship, consuming the engine assembly in a raging fire, damaging it irreparably. The volkite ray sliced along the side of the cruiser above the octet of las hits and rent a gash through the structure, atomizing structural members, bulkheads and unfortunate Collectors caught in the beam. The stresses on the ship and sudden loss of power caused it to settle back onto the ground again, the forces of the landing tearing apart the internal structure; the hovering internal platforms fell into the interior as the ship leaned dangerously, collapsing onto its side parallel to the former line of battle in a cloud of dust a scream of tortured metal.

From the fallen ship, Collectors of all varieties and Reaper forms emerged, charging forth with reckless abandon. Lumbering Husks and Scions, accompanied by a few Praetorians and innumerable Collector Drones, Guardians, and Assassins spewed forth from the fallen warship.

"Fall back! Fall back to the barricades!"

It was the colonists turn to retreat, faced with an onslaught of foes, and risking encirclement. Makos shifted into reverse jarring the occupants, foot soldiers fled backwards running back to the safety of the barricade, and the mighty fellglaive rumbled backwards to resume its previous position.

Xenos assault rifles spoke, and particle beams lashed out at the fleeing humans, many were felled by the onslaught of the enemy.

"What are those foul mockeries of humans?" Katherine asked Ashley, referring to the Husks.

"Shepard and I fought them before. They're called Husks; they're made from humans who are captured and turned into those by the Reapers. They're giant synthetics that harvest all life in the galaxy periodically. Nobody believed us when we said they were returning."

As the tank rolled back into its previous location, the colonists on foot leaped over their barricades and took up firing positions, guns blazing. The Makos and Grizzlies rolled to a stop and fired their cannons into the coming horde. The lascannons tore through the enemy ranks. Silvana knelt behind the barricade as well, firing laspistol shots over the barricade into the mass of foes.

A collector drone was possessed by Harbinger, again glowing orange.

"FOOLS! You do nothing to delay us! We are your salvation through your destruction! None will stand before the coming darkness! Here you shall fall for your insolence!"

"The Emperor will be our salvation, foul xeno! We shall not fall today! We will drive you back to your planet, slaughter you and your foul brethren, and lay waste to your worlds and cities from above! You will regret the day you trifled with humanity! In the name of the Emperor, I will strike you down!"

Silvana leapt up, her wings glowing brilliantly, and pulled her chainsword from its place on her hip. She thumbed the activation rune, and the weapon roared to life, monomolecular diamantine blades racing down the length of the blade with an angry whine that could be heard over the din of the battle. Propelled by her jetpack, she dove on Harbinger, corkscrewing around a blast of energy it launched up at her. Swinging her blade in a long lateral slash, she attempted to bisect the xeno at the waist. It glowed, and a wall of energy slammed into Silvana, throwing her back, the force of her movement decapitating several Collectors that she hit as she flew backwards.

She returned to her feet, her ceramite power armor having protected her from the force of the blast. Her jump pack flared again to life, as she return to flight above the army below, her chainsword roaring. Harbinger charged towards her, unleashing another pulse of energy that streaked through the air towards her. Silvana flipped through the air under it and brought her blade down in a sweeping overhead arc, only for Harbinger to use his power again, sending her flying backwards again.

She stood up slowly into a kneeling position, surrounded by the enemy.

"Emperor give me strength to slay this foul xeno witch, to see this battle won. My Emperor, your faithful servant calls upon you; I am soulless, but can still serve you faithfully. If you can, lend me strength to take on these foes."

Harbinger stalked forward, closer and closer to the kneeling sister.

"You fail to see. Some have already seen. We are the method of the galaxy's ascension, the cycle will continue. It is unstop…"

Silvana stood, swinging her chainsword in an upward strike, bisecting Harbinger vertically. The whirring teeth ripped through the armor and flesh, tearing out intestines, shredding bone, mangling organs. Right up the length of the Collector's spine the teeth tore, ripping out nerves, sending chunks of alien meat and blood everywhere. The chainsword passed up through the ribcage, ripping out the bones and vital organs housed behind it and tearing the arteries wide open to spew xenos blood across the ground and all over Silvana's armor. The blade tore into the neck from the bottom, shredding the alien respiratory tract and destroying the vertebrae and spinal cord, before passing up through the skull, the diamantine teeth ripping the lower jaw free and reducing the brain to a consistency of pudding, passing between the 4 eyes of the Collector and exiting the top of the head slicked with alien blood and grime.

The two halves of Harbinger fell outwards onto the ground as they disintegrated into ash.

She looked around. Aliens were everywhere, all around her. She spied the fellglaive and the barricade line in the distance beyond the horde, and saw the alien mass about to overrun the line.

Spattered with alien blood and her jump pack almost out of fuel, she swung her chainsword through the nearest alien and began to carve a bloody path through the xenos back to human lines.

Her chainsword roared in her left hand as it spread xenos intestines, brains, skeletal components and blood across the ground. It whined as the monomolecular blades tore through the armor and flesh of the aliens. Assault rifle round peppered her armor, doing nothing to the reinforced ceramite. Collector particle beams flashed at her, also failing to so much as scratch the paint on the armor. Her laspistol in her right flashed, its violet beams passing through kinetic barriers to rend the armor and boil the xenos' bodies along their paths, the aliens' pitiful armor offering less protection than the hide of an ork from the ionized air. The flash-boiling ripped the xenos apart near the blast, leaving a perfectly cauterized wound and a missing appendage or two. The chainsword ripped through the Collectors with impunity, their efforts at combat feeble compared to the training, experience, and weapons of the elite Seraphim as she cut her way through to the main line.

Behind the barricade, the colonists were slowly being overrun. The volkite carronade fired as the coils glowed red. The lascannons flashed nearly continuously, felling Praetorians, Guardians, and Drones alike. The heavy bolter thundered, spewing diamantine-tipped exploding death into the oncoming horde. The area behind the barricade was littered with white hot heat sinks ejected from the guns of the colonists. Guns became lighter in their users' hands as the blocks of metal that served as the actual ammunition supply were depleted. Mass Accelerator Cannons on Grizzlies and Makos thundered, shells obliterating whatever enemy they hit. Colonists ducked behind their barricades as fire from Collectors' assault rifles and Praetorians' particle beams lashed out at the barricade. The bodies of the aliens and husks added to the impromptu fortification as they were gunned down mere meters from the colonists.

"They're overrunning the barricades, we should fall back!" Ashley yelled into the tank's comms as she saw a colonist fall to a Collector's point-blank bullet on the internal targeting vid-screens.

"Nonsense and cowardice! We will hold the line at all costs! We have nowhere to retreat to! We will hold until the backup you called arrives."

Again, Katherine voice echoed on the colony PA, "Men and women! We shall not give a single step to these aliens! When they overrun our barricades, we will fight them hand to hand! There is a fleet coming to assist us, and we will prevail! We will crush these foes! You see what they do to those they capture; foul abominations, mockeries of the human form! We will not let them take us! Fight them, to the last bullet, to the last breath of air, to the last of the xenos!"

**Space Over Horizon, Mid Level Orbit**

A ship, slightly larger than a frigate, left FTL. It was sleek and curved, vaguely shaped like a jet fighter of old, in stark contrast to the monstrosity which had, hours before, passed through the same location and now lay dead on the surface of the planet. It was white and black, with yellow markings. It had no sensor signature, and would have passed undetected in the most hostile of situations, not that anyone below was watching the tracker arrays.

The ship coasted into low orbit, its expert pilot keeping it steady in geosynchronous position as a small Kodiak shuttle, similarly painted, departed the hangar bay for the planet's surface.

Inside the shuttle were four people: a resurrected dead man, a genetically engineered intelligence operative, a renegade alien sniper, and the pilot.

* * *

By the way, to Cegorach and AncientRaig, thank you very much. I'll probably go back and redo that; was I better here about not making it read like a script?

I didn't even consider the fact that it could be a lost world (I did consider time travel. It would be the same anyway unless you use a strictly linear timeline), thanks for the idea. I am aware that High Gothic is a synthesis of many different languages, but it is easier to hand-wave the language barrier by having it be Latin, or at least close enough for translation software. I also figured that the colonists wouldn't realize the lascannons were the secondary sponson weapons and not the primary battery, the barrels themselves do look vaguely similar to the gun on the Mako (In my opinion), until it gave an in-combat demonstration of what barrels did what.


	4. Chapter 4: Onward to Glory

More. Recent Sisters update looks nice; if they come out with plastic, I may add them to my collection. Pyromaniac nuns with guns are awesome.

I own no copyright. GW and Bioware own copyright for Warhammer and Mass Effect, respectively. Funeral Prayer from Lexicanum's Ecclesiarchy Quotes.

* * *

**Horizon Defensive Position**

Colonists' assault rifles sprayed bullets into the advancing swarm of Husks and Collectors. The area behind the makeshift barricade was filled with discarded heat sinks. Flamethrower belched fire into the oncoming ranks of the enemy while the guns of Makos and Grizzlies pounded the xenos mercilessly. Though it had considerably thinned, the swarm was huge. The full complement of the Collector cruiser had come forth to destroy those who had downed their ship, to destroy them for their insolence. Hundreds were instantly rendered into their atomic state by the mighty weapons of the Fellglaive, thousands were gunned down by the colonists, but without a sense of self preservation or fear they came, reminiscent of the unending swarms of the vicious Tyranids as they would devour a planet.

Overhead, a small shuttle entered the atmosphere, GARDIAN lasers swiveling to meet it. The small dropship jerked about as the pilot attempted to avoid the wrath of the defense guns. It dove for the ground in a desperate attempt to drop faster than the GARDIAN mounts could swivel. It pulled out of its dive as it neared the ground, the shots from the lasers flashing above it and tracking after it as it changed its course. It raced between the buildings, flying below the minimum elevation of the laser turrets and obstructing their fire with the colony itself. As a testament to the pilot's skill, it weaved between the buildings not once touching the sides of the artificial chasm it flew through. It dropped to the ground between two buildings where the GARDIAN lasers couldn't hit it. It was scored with laser burns, its armor in places burnt away. Out of it stepped three people.

"The scanner showed a contact drop in from orbit and go between the buildings, Inquisitor!" Operations Chief Ashley Williams yelled into the internal vox of _Righteous Vengeance_.

"Understood. The defense guns will ground it until we can investigate."

The fellglaive laid out a beam of pure white, atomizing anything it hit and arcing to those nearby. Collectors and Husks burned from the inside out as their organs were reduced to atomic soup. Quartets of violet lascannon beams spat forth from the sponson guns, vaporizing those they hit. Assault rifles chattered and the guns of the nearby APCs roared.

A fireteam of three disembarked from the damaged shuttle, a few blocks from the front. The sound of battle was near, the krak of the lasbeams, the electronic whine of the volkite carronade, the pounding of the mass accelerator cannons, and the din of the firing machineguns and assault rifles. An alien hefted a sniper rifle. A woman drew her heavy pistol. A man drew his assault rifle. With an order from the man, the small fireteam spread out, moving to the frontlines.

They turned down the main route of the colony, taking cover behind a corner as they looked down to see the back of the gargantuan tank that occupied the end of the road. An armored figure's torso protruded from the cupola, gesturing towards targets with a glowing blade. Quad-mounted weapons hanging from the sides swiveled and flashed violet beams at their unseen targets.

"Standing in the cupola like that can't be safe," the woman in the fireteam commented.

A feminine voice echoed across the colony public address system: "Fire! Our divine wrath will destroy these vile xenos! Let none cross the barricade!"

"I feel much less comfortable here than I did a minute ago," the alien sniper commented.

"Seek a sniping post in one of these buildings," the fireteam's leader ordered, "give us cover; we'll move up to their front."

The alien entered the nearest building to seek a sniping post. The remaining two members of the fireteam crept along the side of the street, carefully attempting to stay in cover.

Within _Righteous Vengeance_, Ashley informed Katherine: "Two coming up the street. Your scanner says they're human; probably the shuttle's occupants."

"Humans? Good, that means reinforcements must have arrived, with friendly ships. We'll hit the xenos with an orbital strike," Katherine contacted Silvana, "We have reinforcements. We're calling in an orbital strike, get yourself out of there!"

The fireteam crept closer along the side of the street.

The armored figure turned around in the turret and called out down the street, "You two, to the front, along with any other reinforcements you may have! This is Lord Inquisitor Katherine Laurea of the Ordo Malleus; tell your commander I wish to speak to him!"

"What's this 'Ordo Malleus'? Should we trust her?" the woman asked.

"They sent a distress call. We probably can; but don't mention we're with Cerberus," the man replied.

They jogged down the street towards the stationary tank.

As the two approached the tank, Katherine called down, "Contact your fleet. I want an orbital strike laid in the horde ahead of us."

The man called up, "We answered your distress call; we were the closest ship. What was it you wanted us to do!"

"I want an orbital strike right ahead of us! There's too many of them for us alone."

The man and his companion looked out beyond the barricade. The fallen Collector cruiser loomed beyond the horde of aliens. An armored person raced towards them on glowing wings, flying over the aliens. Shells from Makos and Grizzlies tore apart aliens in the horde. Colonists fired continuously, their assault rifles chattering. Alien bodies littered the field, while many colonists lay slumped in the trenches or cried for medigel. A pall of smoke coated the battlefield from the ruined starship, while fires burned white hot amidst the horde. It was a horrific scene. They saw a colonist fall to the rounds fired from a Collector's gun. A Praetorian raked the barricade driving its occupants for cover. Husks lumbered towards the line being gunned down in droves.

A familiar face stood up out of the driver's hatch of the tank and looked over the side.

"Shepard! Why are you working with Cerberus! Why are you here and with _them_?"

Shepard turned. "They pay the bills…"

"Reunion can wait. I need that strike now!"

He turned back to the agitated Lord Inquisitor. "You'll get your orbital strike." He suddenly felt rather disturbed, and turned to see the armored woman with her glowing jetpack "wings" land facing him and Miranda.

Splattered with gore, her chainsword idling quietly, Silvana set down with the group. To Shepard and Miranda, something about her seemed wrong. It wasn't the blood and bits of alien that splattered her armor, it wasn't the gold trim or over prevalent skull and eagle motifs, it wasn't her diabolical looking blade or the assortment of absurdly large pistols mag-locked to her waist, something about her was just wrong.

"She's a blank. It's her null aura that's making you uncomfortable. Now, that orbital strike."

Miranda muttered something under her breath. Shepard called Joker on his omni-tool.

"Can you get a lock on the Collectors a ways beyond the colony?"

"Of course commander, but the council will have our asses for firing on a garden world."

"It doesn't matter; fire!"

The Normandy spun silently in space as it brought its guns to bear on the planet below. EDI calculated the firing solution for the weapons in moments and fed them to the batteries. Auto-loaders loaded rounds into the mass accelerator cannons of the frigate. Mass effect fields reduced the mass of the shells to hundredths of their original mass. Magnetic fields hurled the shells forth from their barrels into the void of space at speeds otherwise impossible, jarring the ship. The auto loaders cycled new shells home into the guns, and the guns fired again into the void, the second salvo moving close behind the first salvo across the void.

The shells lit up as they passed into the atmosphere, glowing brightly as the air around them ionized with their entrance. On the ground, the PA speakers echoed.

"Xenos! You doom is at hand! The divine wrath of humanity rains from above to sweep you from the face of this world! Know this: that for every one of the brave souls that fell today on this battlefield, for every soul that was taken by your vile kind, for every soul that will perish in the war to come; we will exact a vengeance a hundred fold on your kind! Your bodies will fuel the pyres of our dead! We will burn your worlds and cities to ash; in the Immortal Emperor's name and that of the Primarchs and Honored Saints, we will erase all trace of your kind from the galaxy except as a footnote on the graves of the martyrs that died for humanity to prevail in this conflict!"

The first salvo struck the ground amidst the alien horde. The force of the impacts sent tremors across the ground and catapulted soil through the air in a great cloud. The bodies of the aliens were tossed like ragdolls from the craters; arms, legs and heads blown free in a gory display. Chunks of rock crushed aliens beneath them as they landed, bodies splattered as the returned to the ground at speeds equal to that in which they left it. Xenos and human alike were shaken from their feet by the tremors and many were deafened by the sound. The sonic boom of the projectiles shattered windows in the colony and the shockwaves threw furniture about within the rooms.

As the dust cleared, the second salvo struck home. Dirt that had just landed was again thrown into the air. Mangled bodies from the first strike were again thrown into the air to land with sickening thuds. Body parts flew from the xenos trailing blood and intestines as the force of the impact wrenched them free from their owners. As the dust from the second salvo settles, the colonists stood behind their barricades and beheld a gruesome sight. Jagged craters dotted the area that was a one time a verdant green field. Xenos blood ran from limbs and bodies torn apart by the blasts; broken corpses littered the ground in the thousands. The field looked like a scene from an old apocalypse vid, bodies everywhere across a charred landscape. Scattered alien elements stood momentarily stunned by the shock of the impact.

A cheer rose up from the human lines. Colonists raised their rifles into the air and stood atop their barricade. Ashley stood up on the deck of the fellglaive as the sister climbed up to stand on the opposite side of the volkite carronade. Silvana swung her chainsword to point out across the field of ruin.

"The Emperor grants us victory on this day! We will carry out his will and see these aliens dead and their worlds a lifeless ball of rock! To a crusade to cleanse the galaxy of the xenos! Operations Chief, lead the charge, make the Emperor and humanity proud, claim vengeance for your brave men and women who gave their lives today!"

She passed the chainsword to Ashley as she leapt of the tank, who, slightly bewildered, hefted it into the air above her head. The Alliance officer followed the Seraphim's example and leapt from the deck to the ground running forward to the nearest Collectors.

"Charge!"

Inquisitor Laurea threw her power sword to Silvana, who activated it and ran after Ashley. Behind them, along the line, colonists jumped from the barricades to the ground firing bursts of fire from their assault rifles as they ran forward. _Righteous Vengeance_ lurched forward, its tread grinding the bodies of the alien dead to paste as it rolled over them. Shepard and Miranda were momentarily stunned by the actions of the colonists.

Collectors and Husks tried to form up in their small groups before the charge of the humans. A colonist jabbed his assault rifle into the center mass of an alien and pulled the trigger, a burst of ammunition ripping through the armor and body of the Drone and spreading its innards out across the ground. Another colonist swung his weapon's stock into the head of an alien, the force of the impact cracking the alien's skull and mashing its brains.

Ashley slammed the chainsword end-first into a Collector, the teeth carving through its armor and body spilling its entrails upon the ground and all over Ashley. The monomolecular blade ripped through the vital block and shattered the bones. Alien blood spewed from the gaping wound as the Collector fell backwards, diamantine teeth still chewing at its gut. She ripped the screaming weapon from the falling alien and plunged it into another spraying more blood and gore across the shattered field. The blade was almost too heavy for the Operations Chief; she gripped it with two hands and swung it hard, sending the head of another Collector flying through the air as its body fell forward upon the ground, fluid rushing from the neck.

Silvana swung the power sword with ease, cleaving through armor and flesh alike. The armor of the Collectors provided no protection against the finely crafted sword designed to slice the hardened ceramite of Space Marine powered armor; the power field repelled the very atoms of the xenos it touched, the wound exploding into a shower of blood and bone fragments as the blade sliced through the aliens. Silvana swung the blade in great arcs, dispatching several xenos at a time.

The gargantuan tank followed behind the Sister and the Alliance officer, splattering xenos beneath its bulk.

Shepard and Miranda looked on, following the tank. Shepard poked the splattered remnants of a Collector with the barrel of his Vindicator.

"At least at Torfan we didn't run the Batarians over with Makos. We should have."

"They're thorough," Miranda added, "They definitely are not affiliated with the Alliance, and probably share more ideals with us than them. Cerberus could use them and their tech; see what you can do."

Any further conversation was halted as a great cheer rose up from the colonists signifying the fall of the final alien. The crowd of humans began to converge on the tank, where Silvana and Ashley had climbed back onto the deck. Ashley handed the Seraphim back her chainsword, Silvana returned the relic power sword to the Lord Inquisitor. The crowd gathered around the tank, now serving as an impromptu stage. Shepard and Miranda were temporarily forgotten in the excitement of victory. Garrus left the building he had used as a sniping post. Ashley yelled across those assembled.

"The Collector ship no doubt has others abducted from other colonies! We go to rescue them!"

Silvana added: "In the name of the immortal Emperor, those that would attempt to cast down humanity will feel our divine and righteous retribution!"

The colonists cheered again.

Katherine spoke to Silvana. "You search the ship. I'll wait here and discuss the acquisition of a ship and fleet with the armsmen who landed."

"Understood. The Emperor protects."

"May He protect you too, Sister."

Silvana shouted out to the assembled colonists, "Form up in ranks and squads! We are going to board that ship, and we don't want to take unnecessary casualties! May the immortal Emperor watch over us all."

"I'll cut my way into the front with half the assembled. You clear out the back section with the other half," Ashley stated.

In the blasted remnants of the field, the colonists began to assemble into neat rows in groups of ten. The expanse before the tank that was serving as a makeshift podium and stage appeared as a military parade ground, blocks of troops arranged with armored vehicles parked in lines between the blocks of troops. Shepard and Miranda looked on from beside the tank. Garrus approached the back of the formation.

Ashley announced, "Attention, those on this side of the tank will mount up and follow me! We're boarding the front half of the ship looking for survivors or abductees. Those on that side will follow Silvana. You're doing the same in the back half."

Silvana and Ashley climbed down from the deck of the gargantuan fellglaive and the assembled colonists fell out, boarding trucks and Makos to cross the distance to the fallen space ship. Silvana walked over to a Mako tank that was loading up.

"This squad will be my communications team. Call all squads assigned to my half and have them sound off; note their number and strength in the order they report in," She then muttered to herself, "I hope this thing's machine spirit has been properly tended to. It doesn't look like it would be able to take a hit from a lasgun and keep going."

A man used his omni-tool to call the other colonists, calling for a head count. Self appointed squad sergeants returned the calls with, "Squad 12, 10 here," and "Squad 18, we got 10." Another passenger in the small tank took down each squad's number and strength as the little APC bumped across the cratered field.

They rolled up to the side of the fallen cruiser after an uneventful but bumpy ride.

"I'll never complain to the Mechanicus about Rhinos again when we get back," Silvana muttered, "At least they don't feel like riding in a cardboard box that would fall apart with a lasgun shot."

The squad disembarked and moved up to the side of the cruiser. The rest of the colonists assigned to her group grouped into a circle, staying away from her. Only the "communication's team" stayed near her, and they shifted uneasily on their feet.

"Form up! May the Emperor grant us his protection; we go to recover any survivors who were taken aboard the vile Xenos vessel! We will cleanse the halls of any foul xenos we encounter; we will show them the might and holy fury of humanity! Move through the entry way one squad at a time, and secure any passages. Mark any junction with the direction you arrived from to facilitate withdraw. Kill any xenos encountered, send any humans back outside. Plant a demolition charge here and stand back."

The heavy explosive detonated, showering those standing close with dirt and debris. When the dust cleared, a crater in the armor of the ship was visible, but no penetration. Silvana sighed in disgust and drew her chainsword. It screamed angrily as it scraped along the armor of the space ship. The monomolecular diamantine blades cut deep gouges in the armor, but its thickness prevented a cut from being made. Silvana shoved on the end of the chainsword, pushing it point-first into the hull of the ship. Colonists covered their ears and winced at the atrocious sound as it ripped into the meters of armor that covered the collector ship. With the hilt against the side of the ship, the blade had still not penetrated into the interior. Though the metal of the Collectors was no match for the technology of the 41st Millennium, its thickness thwarted Silvana's attempt to cut through it.

She withdrew her sword and replaced it in its mag-lock on her hip.

"We could put a breaching charge in the hole you made, ma'am," a colonist suggested hesitantly.

"If your charges are strong enough, then go ahead."

Another shaped charge was placed into the hole the chainsword had made in the hull of the Collector ship. Colonists moved away from the site, hiding behind the trucks and Makos.

The explosion roared, debris shot from the side of the ship. A chunk of armor struck a truck, wrecking it. Debris shot from the hole in the side of the ship and smoke obscured the site. As the dust cleared, a hole was visible into the interior of the alien vessel. A small hole, but a hole nonetheless.

Silvana moved from behind the APC she had been using for cover and approached the small opening, about the size of a person's torso. Colonists covered their ears again as the chainsword ripped through the armor of the cruiser, widening the hole until one could pass through it comfortably.

"Move! Into the breach, first squad through secure the area! Second and third squads, move ahead and wait for backup! Stay together; the Emperor protects."

Colonists ran through the hole in the side of the ship, entering a wide passageway. It was surreal inside, a cave-like passageway, complete with periodic ceiling stalactites, dotted with armored decompression doors, wire ducts, and pipelines. Strange pods leaned against the wall. Chunks of armor blown in by the explosive breaching littered the entrance area; the first squad in knelt behind the larger pieces for cover. The passage ran parallel to the hull of the ship; it was littered with debris from the collapse of the ship. The second squad in made their way to the aft, assault rifles at ready. The third squad moved towards the bow, covering each other as they darted from cover to cover. Silvana watched their proceedings, their formations were rather disjointed and clumsy, a far cry from the great Terminators of the Astartes or even the extensively trained Imperial Guard. Another squad moved through the hole and followed Second Squad towards the stern.

"You might wanna see this! We found one of those pods on the wall that was broken open! It seems they were for holding abducted humans! We'll break open anymore we find; someone might be alive!" a colonist radioed in.

"Tell everyone else to come in. Move in orderly search patterns; look for anything that might have a map of the ship," Silvana commanded her communications team, "I'm going to investigate this holding pod."

She marched off down the hall, followed by the communications team. More colonists moved through the opening, squads diverging down the hallway. She stopped where second squad had located the broken pod. It had been thrown from its position during the fall, and broken open on impact. A broken human body was lying with it, killed by the impact with the wall.

"Get me everyone, including Operations Chief Williams' group," Silvana commanded her communications team. An omni-tool projected a hologram onto a member's wrist; he moved his arm in front of her. She had seen them use the wrist holograms to communicate before.

"Do I just talk into it?"

He nodded.

"Attention! We've found that these foul xenos were keeping human prisoners inside of pods within their ship! There may be survivors! We will make the xenos pay for every human here and every human that fell outside; we will have vengeance for every human that has or will fall!"

"How did you get in so fast?" came in from Ashley, "breaching charges didn't make it through."

"I made a hole with my sword and placed the charges inside it."

The squads spread out further within the ship. Silvana and her communications team headed aft, following second and fourth squad. At junctions squads branched off while another stayed to fortify the intersection. Wherever they found them, colonists broke open pods to check for survivors; so far, they had been empty. Fallen structural components littered the passageways, chunks of debris were scattered everywhere. Massive decompression doors were mangled or jammed in place by the distortion of the doorframe cause by the shock of the impact and had to be blown open with breaching charges or cut open by chainsword. Periodically, the corpse of a Collector killed in the falling space ship was seen.

"Commander, we've found someone! Unconscious, but alive! They're bleeding lightly, but they're alive!"

"Evacuate them, send them out to the entrance, we will bring them back to the colony. Continue looking for an intact floor plan of the ship."

At the other end of the ship, Ashley had finally succeeded in breaking in. It had taken some 25 charges to blast their way through the armor. Chunks of it littered the area. Ashley stepped through the breach first, followed by a squad of colonists. The bow area of the ship was in much worse shape than the stern. Sections of the ceiling of the passage had fallen in, pipes were strewn across the floor, bodies of collectors and a few broken pods lay on the ground. The area had been mangled, having much farther to fall than the stern.

Colonists picked their way through the wreckage. Nothing here was intact. Squads had to skirt holes in the floor. Instead of sealed shut, decompression doors were knocked free of their frames or twisted beyond recognition by the force of the fall. Piles of rubble, deformed structural members, alien bodies and the occasional human corpse covered the floor of the passage. This group of colonists didn't follow the rigid search formation that those at the stern did. They picked their way where they could and looked for anything. Unexpectedly, one squad found console still attached to the wall.

"Op chief! We found a working terminal; we'll hack it and take what we can."

"If there's a map, send it to me. They want one down at the other end."

"Yes ma'am!"

A colonist used her omni-tool to hack the console, downloading as much data as she could from the terminal. A ship floor plan was forwarded to Ashley, who forwarded it to Silvana's communication team.

Silvana stepped into a massive arched cavern within the middle of the ship. The clank of her powered armored boots echoed throughout the massive hall. It was in ruins. Thrown about, mostly towards the stern, were the remnants of the floating platforms that held smashed control panels and moved collectors and prisoners around the ship. Collector corpses littered the floor, killed by the fall. Captive pods, many broken, lined the walls and ceiling, though most had fallen to the floor. Chunks of the roof were scattered about the floor of the great hall, pipe work was shattered, twisted girders created a post apocalyptic scene. Many human bodies could be seen on the ground and in the carnage. The squad that had preceded her moved across the floor of the hall, spread out in an attack formation. Her appointed communications squad stepped in behind her. At many other places throughout the cavern, other squads on different pathways exited their routes to the same blasted scene.

Silvana knelt amidst the wreckage, her hands over her chest, thumbs locked in the sign of the holy Aquila. She bowed her head and sang softly, the high cavern echoing her voice as the vaulted ceiling of an imperial cathedral.

Boarding teams scattered throughout the hall paused in respectful silence. Barely conscious bodies fallen from their imprisonment heard the angelic voice resonating in the hall and stirred in the rubble. The funerary song echoed through the halls of the ship, reaching the ears of the boarding group in the bow, where colonists paused in their crawl through the wreckage. Slowly, as the sound died throughout the wreck, colonists returned to their inspection and search.

"Check the bodies for vital signs, remove all of them. We'll get those still alive to a medicae and prepared the dead for a proper burial. May the Emperor guard their souls."

"Yes ma'am," the communications team relayed her orders to her small army.

Pods were cut open, bodies removed from the few that contained occupants. Humans lying on the floor were scanned for vital signs. Medigel was applied to the wounded that were alive. The bodies of the live and dead were carried back to the breach. Slowly, squads worked their way around the ship until the entirety of the stern had been searched and evacuated, from the mangled area where a octet of perfect holes had cored through the pumps feeding the engines to the center of the ship, where members of Ashley's group met with those of Silvana's amidst the wreckage. Hundreds of humans were recovered alive, but thousands more had been killed, through power loss to the pods or death on impact with the floor. Those that were alive were lucky enough to have been thrown free of the pods when the ship collapsed. Those who remained within the pods when the support to them failed unconsciously asphyxiated in their alien prisons. None were fully conscious, but many were slowly recovering. Outside the ship, the recovered dead were arrayed in long neat lines in the field. The live were loaded onto trucks and brought back to the colony for treatment as the light began to fade

While Silvana was breaking into the fallen cruiser, the Lord Inquisitor began to negotiate with Shepard and Miranda out in the middle of the field.

She peered over the rim of the hatch at the two humans. Below, Shepard and Miranda were analyzing every detail of the massive war machine, from the mighty Volkite Carronade to the gilded armor and deep red I on the side.

"Armsmen, we have matters to discuss. We'll go to the command center. Climb onto the deck."

Miranda and Shepard scrambled up onto the deck of the vehicle as Garrus walked up.

"Xeno! Take cover!" Katherine swung the pintle-mounted storm bolter around towards the approaching Turian.

"Don't shoot him! He's friendly!" shouted Shepard before she could open fire.

Katherine paused, her finger moments away from blowing Garrus into a fine mist of gore with a stream of sanctified bolt shells.

"There can be no such thing as a friendly xeno. When pressed, they will not hesitate to abandon one for the sake of their own species."

"He's with me. I'll explain."

"Very well. I won't shoot him here, but my gun stays pointed at his back. It's your folly if you trust a xeno."

Katherine called the colony over PA again. "Attention people of Horizon, the lockdown is ceased, but the colony is still under inquisitorial authority until further notice. The Emperor has granted us victory over the vile xenos on this day! At this moment the heroes and defenders of this colony go to rescue those who were taken from other worlds by these foul aliens aboard their ship! Ave Imperator."

With that, the tank rumbled off back towards the colony. Garrus ran next to it; Katherine wouldn't let him touch her tank, much less ride on it. It wasn't a problem; the 400 ton tank wasn't particularly fast.

As the tank rolled pass the now abandoned barricade, colonists exiting their shelters cheered. Many looked for those who had answered the call to arms. _Righteous Vengeance_ rolled to a stop before the colony command center.

"Where have they gone?" asked a worried colonist.

"To rescue those who were taken at other colonies! To deliver upon the xenos humanity's holy wrath! They are storming the alien ship and finishing off any remnant of the xeno here! Make way!"

Like the biblical Red Sea, the assembled crowd of non-combatants parted to allow Katherine, Shepard, Miranda, and Garrus to walk to the command building. Katherine gestured to the same places she had stood earlier in the morning while negotiating with Ashley.

Miranda and Garrus sat in the two chairs already pulled over.

"Alien, stand. It is not your place to take what would be for a human without permission, even if it is as simple as a chair."

"It's okay, I'll stand. I'm his commander."

"Very well. But you will be accountable for his actions and words."

"I'm a SPECTRE. My team and I are not accountable for anything except our mission."

Katherine removed her bolt pistol from its mag-lock on her hip and leveled it on the SPECTRE. Shepard found himself staring down the .75 caliber bore of the gilded and sanctified imperial weapon. He pulled his M-6 Carnifex pistol off the magnetic plate on his back and aimed it at the Lord Inquisitor.

Miranda leaped up to force Shepard's arm down, wrenching his pistol from his hand. "Don't make trouble. We don't need you dead. Garrus, go outside." She turned towards Katherine, holding out her hand, "Operative Miranda Lawson, XO of the Normandy SR2. May we get on to business, Miss Laurea?"

Katherine shook Miranda's hand and nodded. Garrus stood and stepped outside. Shepard crossed his arms over his chest, and refused to sit.

"I would ask where the hell you came from and acquired your guns, but I'll find out soon enough. We came here because we were tipped off that the Collectors would strike here. You seem to share the same goal and morals as we do; we would appreciate it if you would join us to provide your experience and technology to our cause."

"I will not have a xeno near my holy implements, nor will I trust one. Their kinds will turn on us in our moment of weakness when they see their chance."

"We aren't with the Systems Alliance. We're Cerberus; we fight for humanity, not for the aliens. We'll give you transportation, and we need any technology we can get to level the playing field between us and the aliens."

"You have a xeno in your fireteam, and no doubt more in your fleet! How can you say you fight for humanity and ensure that the alien will never learn the secrets of my blessed weapons when you trust one to cover your backs?"

Shepard interjected: "There's three: Garrus, Mordin, and Grunt. Garrus is a good soldier, trustworthy and reliable. Mordin's a scientist and a damn good one too. Grunt's a fighter; he won't give a shit about your guns. Either way, I ain't turnin' my back on them on the whim of a xenophobe with silver armor. You can get a ride on our ship and help us defeat the Collectors or you can stay here and wait for the Alliance. They're friendly with aliens."

"Where I come from, defending, harboring, or collaborating with a xeno is a heresy almost unmatched. I can show the Alliance the path of righteousness, but I cannot save one who protects the xeno. I have experience from a hundred wars, and never once has a xeno that joined us in battle failed to be hostile. If you will not see the folly of your ways, there is nothing I can do for your; far from my home, I still fight for humanity and humanity alone as a Lord Inquisitor of the exalted Ordo Malleus of the Inquisition of the most holy Imperium of Man."

"Sounds like they're hostile because you're hostile to the!. You sound more dogmatic and close minded…"

"Shepard! Stop, you aren't helping our cause! We need her help and technology to defeat the Collectors."

"How? If she can't tolerate non-humans, I won't have her jeopardizing my ship and crew! Cerberus may have built it and resurrected me, and I owe them, but I also need to complete my mission and I can't have a random loony we picked up claiming to be from some human 'Imperium' endangering my crew and spreading rhetoric, even if they share Cerberus ideals!"

"A xeno on your crew endangers you more than any human of slightly less skill. While you are victorious they may have a pretense of aiding you, but when it comes down to life or death they will choose yours over theirs. I'll wait and take the fleet that was called for aid as my crusade group. You can fail when your 'trusted xeno' turns on you."

Miranda desperately tried to calm the situation down and salvage the negotiations: "Please, Miss Laurea, the Alliance will take your guns and give them to the xeno, they kiss up to the Council in their weakness. Cerberus tries to improve the standing of humanity, and in return we are branded as terrorists by our own. We desire to see humanity the dominant power of the galaxy, just like you. The Normandy is the only Cerberus ship that has a live alien on it, and that's because of Shepard. I'm here to watch over Shepard and report his actions to the Illusive Man, but it is his ship. Cerberus can guarantee that your technology will only be handled by humans if you join us."

"Why would you have him in your ranks then? It is detrimental to one's cause to admit an enemy or traitor to ones ranks and to outfit them with their own ship."

"We needed a hero and a symbol for humanity. He was the first human SPECTRE and was well known throughout space for taking any measure to complete the job. My project was to resurrect him after he died in a Collector attack. We're on a mission to stop the Collectors from abducting human colonies. I've seen you and your comrade's skill and technology; I think you would be a valuable asset for this team to have if we want to defeat the Collectors. Cerberus shares your pro-human ideals; we can provide you with a platform to express them and equipment to achieve them."

There was silence in the room.

Shepard stood with his arms crossed, scowling at multiple factors: Lawson's insistence on acquiring a likely insane, unknown, xenophobe for her technology despite the detrimental effects she would have on the team's coherency and Laurea's close-minded and religious insistence that her own failings were the fault of aliens and her case for their extermination was a perceived divine mandate.

Miranda brooded over the Lord Inquisitor's inability to see reason or the parallels between her goals and Cerberus's and Shepard's interference with her attempted negation because he couldn't see that the advantages of having access to her impressive technology, far beyond anything seen before in Council space, outweighed the effect of her xenophobia. Miranda reasoned Katherine could at least be taken on as a tech to improve and modify weapons without contact with the non-humans in the crew; she must have had good technical skills to use and maintain her tank and armor. Both the Inquisitor and her comrade practically followed Cerberus ideal to the letter, possibly beyond that, and would be perfect Cerberus agents if she could convince them.

Katherine was frustrated by what she saw the two Cerberus operatives' naivety in trusting a foe so vile that successful cooperation had never been seen and their audacity in asking her to join them and the xenos, violating the core tenets of her faith and all she had been taught. Admittedly, she saw a slight chance for redemption in Miranda, but Shepard was too far down the path of damnation with the xeno to be saved. On the other hand, her alternative was to join forces with a group known to pander to the xenos filth, committing a heresy second only to turning to the Ruinous Powers.

The silence lasted at least 45 minutes while Lord Inquisitor Laurea hastily formulated a plan. Not a perfect one by any means, but a rudimentary outline of a plan to bring the glory of the Imperium and light of the Immortal Emperor to this dark place, to raise humanity out of the depths of heresy and ignorance on the path of righteousness as rulers of the galaxy. Miranda spent the time attempting to develop a new plan to bring the Imperials and their technology to Cerberus; to give humanity the edge it needed over the aliens. Shepard analyzed the effects recruiting the Inquisitor and her assistant would have on his team.

Katherine, her decision made, broke the silence: "Silvana and I will join you with the following conditions: We will swear no fealty to any person or organization besides the Ordo Malleus and the Order of the Argent Shroud. No xeno will be allowed to inspect our sacred arms or enter into the location in which we are quartered. I will be permitted to access all files and records of your organization. I will be provided with an opportunity to meet the leader of the Cerberus organization in person with due haste in a timely fashion. Any orders I may issue will be treated as orders from a Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus and given priority and compliance as such. Any requests Silvana may have will be treated as amendments to this list. In exchange, we will join you and provide our services in combat for your crusade to defeat these vile xenos, we will refrain from harassing the xeno elements of your crew, we will release limited access to our weapons technology to human techmagi and engiseers as we see fit, and, pending review of your documentation, grant Imperial sanction to your organization with all the rights, privileges, and responsibilities that entails. Are these terms satisfying and acceptable?"

Shepard spoke out first, "To be allowed aboard my ship, you must be able to peacefully interact with the non-human in my crew. And I will still be in charge here!"

Miranda quickly spoke up, "Welcome to the team; your terms are acceptable. Arranging a direct meeting with the Illusive Man will be difficult, but can be done."

Katherine responded, "Good. We go outside and prepare to pay our respects to the dead when the boarding parties return."

As darkness fell over the colony, the leading elements of the convoy bearing the victorious militiamen and the rescued from the ship rolled past the now-silent barricades at the edge of the colony and into town. Colonists turned out to seek family and friends amongst the victorious, others quickly moved to tend to the wounded and dying recovered from the fallen cruiser.

The loudspeakers rang out in the darkness, "Attention all citizens of the colony of Horizon, today we have won a great victory. May we now assemble on the field of battle to honor the martyrs who gave their lives so we may stand here today."

Slowly, the citizenry walked towards the site of the day's battle, lead by a somber Ashley and Silvana. The colonists formed a large crowd, just beyond the barricades, while the Operations Chief, Seraphim, and Lord Inquisitor stood beyond them in the broken field.

Ashley opened, "Victory comes with a price, and the price of this victory was steep. Some perished against the vast hordes of Collectors, heroes on the field of battle. Others died when these aliens took them captive from other colonies by surprise before they could mount a resistance. May they rest in peace."

By flashlight in the darkness the bodies were marked and buried; an area near the entrance where the barricades stood was designated as the burial site and a memorial to those who had died. As the holes were filled in the darkness, Silvana began to chant softly, her voice ringing out across the open desolation.

"Love the Emperor  
for He is the salvation of mankind  
Obey His words  
for He will lead you into the light of the future  
Heed his wisdom  
for He will protect you from evil  
Whisper his prayers with devotion,  
for they will save your soul  
Honor His servants,  
for they speak in His voice  
Tremble before His majesty,  
for we all walk in His immortal shadow"

Katherine closed the impromptu funeral: "May the noble sacrifice of those who fell be remembered for an eternity in the halls of this world; may the names of the heroes who fell to see this world survive be recorded in the annals of history. May those who were taken from their worlds never be forgotten, those who were slaughtered by the alien when they could not resist have vengeance extracted a thousand fold upon the xenos for their deaths. Now we have buried the martyrs; may the immortal God Emperor of Man protect and watch over their souls."

The colony adjourned for the night, returning to their homes to rest, some to keep vigil for the dead. Katherine, Silvana, and Shepard's away team agreed to depart in the morning. Katherine and Silvana returned to the command post for the night while Katherine informed Silvana of the situation, while Shepard and his team returned to the Normandy SR-2.

* * *

AncientRaig: Thanks. Did grammar improve or deteriorate here?

LordAnime: Fellglaives have no transport capacity. They have armors 14,13,12 and 4 Structure Points (12 Hull points). The tracks are bonded Ceramite, just like the armor of the tank. They can have increased armor, and an HK missile; you can find the forgeworld statsheet online with a search for "Legion Glaive Stats". (This one has the HK missile and the Ceramite upgrade, but not the laser destroyer or the flamer.) I took liberties and added an additional Storm Bolter and turret hatch because commanding from a cupola of a tank with a pintle-mount while waving a sword is something normal in Warhammer 40k but unseen in Mass Effect, and is generally cool. They may add a ME heavy machinegun on the pintle when the storm bolter runs out of ammo, but otherwise it would be tech-heresy to tamper with the sacred armor and arms of the tank. Barriers would be unnecessary, the armor of the tank is already better than the armor of a dreadnought. Katherine and Silvana will probably have to use ME guns at some point because they need ammo. The inferno pistol and hand flamer are out of ammo, neither used their bolt pistols; the laspistol can be recharged.


	5. Chapter 5: Departure

Hi. I'm back.

I OWN NOTHING. GW AND BIOWARE OWN WH40K AND MASS EFFECT, RESPECTIVELY.

* * *

**Horizon Colony**

A shuttle had to be scrapped to loot the eezo core to lift the Fellglaive to the Normandy. While the tank itself was vacuum safe and could even survive limited warp exposure, the 400 ton leviathan was far too heavy for the tiny Kodiak to lift to the Normandy. Consequentially, another Kodiak was dissembled to provide an eezo core to reduce the weight of the tank; just barely enough for the Kodiak to lift to orbit.

Before departure, Lord Inquisitor Katherine Laurea called the entire colony together on the scarred battlefield again. Markers identified the locations of the graves of the fallen, arranged in neat rows, surrounded by a small fence made out of the barricade during the night. On her right stood Sister Seraphim Silvana of the Order of the Argent Shroud, on her left, Operations Chief Ashley Williams, and behind her, SPECTRE John Shepard and his XO, Operative Miranda Lawson.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Silvana whispered to Katherine.

"Yes. It's mostly ceremonial."

Katherine called the crowd to attention.

"With the power vested in me by the immortal God Emperor of Man upon his Golden Throne on Holy Terra as a Lord Inquisitor of the exalted Ordo Malleus of the holy Inquisition of the sacred Imperium of Man, I hereby declare and grant imperial sanction to a great crusade to cleanse the stars of vile xenos and heretics, to reclaim that which was lost to humanity, and to bring the light of the Emperor to the dark places it does not reach! Operations Chief Ashley Williams has been selected to lead this crusade to victory in its purpose; she is granted the authority to raise tithes of manpower, requisition warships, machines, and supplies from any human population or organization, and is hereby promoted to the rank of Warmaster with all the rights and responsibilities it entails! Upon her is bestowed the title Lord Solar and the right to governance of any worlds conquered in humanity's name!"

Ashley stood momentarily stunned and surprised. She had not expected herself to be appointed the leader of something there hadn't been since the 13th Century by a representative of an alternate timeline xenophobic human government and be expected to uphold their ideals and spread their rule.

Silvana stepped behind Katherine and placed her powered armored hand on Ashley's shoulder. "We won't be able to officially register you and your position with the Administratum and secure the badges of office; you do hold the position and power but the gesture is still mostly symbolic. Lead them to victory and reclaim the worlds the Collectors attacked."

Katherine called out, "Stand forward and kneel, Operations Chief Ashley Williams!"

Ashley staggered forward still comprehending what was happening and, figuring crossing the Inquisitor would be likely to result in death, knelt.

Katherine removed her power sword from its place on her hip and, without powering it, tapped its flat on Ashley's shoulders.

"Rise, and take your place, Lord Solar Ashley Williams, Warmaster of the Terminus Crusade!"

Williams stood and returned to her place while contemplating the turn of events. She had been granted the symbolic power to do anything required, conscript any humans, and take command of any fleet to reclaim lost worlds and destroy the Collectors. After a moment of thought, she figured she could make the most of it to do what was right; she would reclaim those worlds for the Systems Alliance and the humanity she believed in.

After the ceremony adjourned and the colonists returned to their daily activities, Katherine, Silvana, Shepard, and Miranda boarded the UT-47 Kodiak for a lift to the Normandy. As she stepped into the doorway, Silvana turned to Ashley in the field, and made the sign of the Aquila over her chest.

"May the Emperor protect you on your ventures, Lord Solar."

Ashley acknowledged with a wave and Silvana took her seat in the shuttle, despite her bulky jump pack making sitting difficult.

The shuttle took off, engines straining against the weight of the gargantuan war machine it was lifting, and flew up to meet the Normandy SR-2.

**Hangar Bay, Normandy SR-2**

The small shuttle dragged the large tank into the hangar bay, and landed next to it. Once the bay doors had closed, the shuttle's occupants disembarked.

"This is your ship? I've seen torpedoes bigger than this thing. Where will our quarters be?"

"Take the first unoccupied cabin on the human side of the hall on deck 3. You two can share. Don't give the aliens grief. We'll have a talk in the CIC, follow me."

The 4 humans made their way to the communications room. The rest of Shepard's retinue had assembled there to meet the new team members. The chatter was silenced when Katherine and Silvana stepped into the room. Those present recoiled away from the sheer wrongness that emanated from Silvana. They had heard Garrus's description of the two Imperials, but were nonetheless stunned by the ornate silver-grey armor gilded with gold, Aquilas, and skulls and the sheer size of the weapons mag-locked to their waists.

"Silvana is a null. Be at ease; we have sworn not to take action against you."

"Something about 'er is wrong. I dunno what 'null' means and not much scares me, but she give me the creeps," Zaeed Massani spoke up.

"She won't hurt you. She had no soul and anyone can subconsciously tell. She is as faithful and pure as any other, a loyal Sister Seraphim of the Order of the Argent Shroud, and will gladly lay down her life for humanity if the Imperium demands it. I'd have no other by my side," Katherine responded in defense of her aide and friend.

"What do you mean 'has no soul'?" Mordin Solus queried, "I do not understand how one can be lacking a theological concept devised by the mind."

"The xeno cannot understand and will not understand the sacredness and purity of the human soul. To deny it is the first step on the path to damnation. Any more is not for you to know, alien."

Shepard halted the discourse before it could become hostile. "This is Lord Inquisitor Katherine Laurea and Sister Seraphim Silvana. I don't know much about them, but Miranda claims we need 'em for their tech and combat abilities. I've seen them use directed energy weapons on their tank and can assure you they are ruthless in combat. I dislike introducing such an unknown factor to my team, but Miranda is sure they will be a valuable asset and I am inclined to trust her judgment. They have agreed to allow limited inspection of their technology by human Cerberus scientists with the condition no non human have access to the data or touch their weapons. I still have no clue where they come from, but they have a religious veneration for an Emperor and Imperium, and have promised not to kill anybody here as long as you don't touch them or their weapons," he turned to the two imperials, "This is my team. Zaeed, Kasumi, Jacob, Jack, Garrus, Mordin, Grunt, and Miranda standing next to you. Zaeed's a veteran merc, a good fighter and brutal. Kasumi's a master thief; she's also very friendly. Jacob's a good soldier and will do the right thing when the time comes. Jack was a biotic test subject, unstable but powerful. You've met Garrus. Mordin's a Salarian scientist, the best there is. Grunt is a vat grown Krogan, tough as nails and very violent. Miranda's a Cerberus analyst and a strong biotic, you've already met her as well. Now, about yourself and Silvana."

"Very well. I am Lord Inquisitor Katherine Laurea of the exalted Ordo Malleus of the Inquisition of the holy Imperium of Man. The glorious Imperium spans the galaxy, from the far reaches of Segmentum Ultima to the Halo Stars of Segmentum Pacificus. As an inquisitor I spread the light of the immortal God Emperor of Man, root out the heretics who turned their backs on the Emperor and their comrades, protect the purity of humanity from the mutant, and defend the Imperium from the machinations of the vile xeno that would see us cast down and enslaved. My unending task is to defend humanity from any threat wherever humanity is present and thus join you to bring this galaxy to the light. I was cast here during a warp accident and was saved by Sister Silvana's null field. We orchestrated the defense of your colony here and have declared a crusade to reclaim the worlds lost to the xeno. I have at my disposal _Righteous Vengeance_, a mighty Fellglaive of ages past, with secrets long lost to the tech-adepts of the Mechanicus, with weapons powerful enough to lay waste to entire armies and armor impervious to all but the greatest of weapons. As a Lord Inquisitor, I hold authority over any and all humans wherever they exist outside standard chain of command. Any further information is classified by my Order."

Sister Silvana described herself second. "I am Sister Seraphim Silvana of the Order of the Argent Shroud of the chamber militant of the Adepta Sororitas. I am also a psychic blank, a null. My life is sworn to the Emperor and the destruction of heresy wherever it may exist. I serve in the retinue of my Lord Inquisitor as an aide and bodyguard. I fight with pistols and chainsword and the sacred jump pack of the elite Seraphim of the Order. My life is dedicated to the Imperium and my Emperor, and in all capacity strive to ensure the continued dominance of humanity over the foul heretics and xenos."

"Through a warp anomaly I presume we have transgressed timelines or dimensions, but our sacred charge applies wherever and whenever humanity exists," Katherine added.

"That sounds like a crock of shit," Jack responded, "and a crappy way to live."

"You any good in a fight? You look tough with your armor." Grunt challenged, changing the topic of conversation before it could be elaborated on.

"Better than the likes of you, xeno."

Miranda interrupted, "You promised to grant us access to your technology. May we proceed with that now that we're introduced?"

"You may investigate our weapons one I have met your commander in person."

"If we are done here, I will call him so we can organize a time. Shepard?"

"Yes. We'll get to know each other better in the future; don't antagonize each other. Dismissed."

The assembled team members departed the room, most relieved to be clear of the aura of wrongness Silvana radiated and return to their tasks. Miranda stayed to call the Illusive Man.

"I only saved ammo for my bolt pistol. I need charging for my weapons' power packs, promethium for my hand flamer, and fuel for my inferno pistol. We need to let them see one of them to make us ammo," Silvana whispered to Katherine.

"We can charge the power packs ourselves from the fellglaive. Let them see the inferno pistol's ammo flask but not the weapon itself, we'll want that to have ammo, and the fuel for your jump pack."

The table dropped away into the floor. Katherine stepped up to talk, Silvana departed the room.

A man with short, grayish hair and blue eyes was silhouetted by a burning star in the hologram. Katherine figured this to be the leader of Shepard's organization.

"You're the Lord Inquisitor; I've heard quite a lot about you. A holovid of your exploits on Horizon is all over extranet. Within the week every government, merc band, and defense contractor is going to be demanding an audience with you and access to your guns. I trust you are going to let us see them first? By the way, I'm the Illusive Man, leader of Cerberus. It's good to have you with us."

Katherine was mildly annoyed by his patronizing tone. "I don't need to conceal my name. I want every vile mutant, heretic, and xeno to learn my name and fear it. Let them know that I am Lord Inquisitor Katherine Laurea of the exalted Ordo Malleus of the sacred Inquisition of the Emperor's holy Imperium of Man, and I will be their doom! I swear no fealty to any organization beside my own, and will grant your organization imperial sanction upon review of your records. Your cause is noble and righteous, but I wish to meet you in person, not as a hologram, and only after I do so will I release the secrets of my sacred arms. I will call you in the near future to arrange a meeting. May the immortal God Emperor bless your endeavors."

She stepped back and the hologram died.

The Illusive Man hadn't encountered many who had demanded concessions from him before, and none on his side. He needed to contemplate her demands.

"What did he tell you?" Miranda asked as she led Katherine down to the crew quarters.

"He said a video of me at war is on your communication network and that everybody out here is going to be asking for my guns. He acted like some of my colleagues in my order. I told him I didn't care, they can watch me all they want; it won't save the xenos and heretics when I come for them. Then I ended the call. Now, you will get me a dataslate with your records for review, yes? By the way, do you have a human tech-adept on board? We need ammunition for our weaponry and fuel for Silvana's jump pack."

Silvana had caught up with Shepard on her way out of the communications room.

"Would you like to join me in the mess?" the SPECTRE offered, "I'd like to talk to you more to determine what role you will play on my team and learn more about you."

"I will remove my jump pack first, and then I will meet you. Where is the mess?"

"The mess hall is on deck three," a disembodied female voice spoke.

"What is that? Daemons? Abominable Intelligence?" Silvana drew her laspistol.

"I am the Enhanced Defense Intelligence. I coordinate the electronic warfare suite of this ship. I have blocks and restraints in place; do not worry."

"The soulless intelligence is an abomination and must be destroyed! Where is the foul being kept?" she yelled at Shepard.

"EDI is restrained and will not pose us harm. We maintain control over the ship. She only deals with mundane tasks like opening doors and fetching information, as well as controls the cyber warfare suite of the ship. She's the spirit of the ship, you can't destroyer her."

"You're putting yourself at risk. It will turn on you given the chance."

"She has inhibitors so she physically cannot turn on us. I had the same suspicions you have when I first learned of her; I spent a period of my life fighting AIs."

"You know of the danger of the Iron Men! Yet you allow this thing to exist?"

"She is loyal and inhibited. It is completely safe."

Silvana grumbled as she took leave of Shepard.

She rode down to the hangar bay where the fellglaive was parked and removed her jump pack, placing it inside the tank and securing the biometric locks. She returned up to the crew deck to meet Shepard in the mess hall.

She walked in, the majority of the team was also there eating, as it was lunchtime and the meeting had delayed lunch. The hall was nothing compared to the grant hall of her convent or the mess of an imperial battle barge. Shepard gestured to the counter where Mess Sergeant Gardner was serving food.

Silvana looked at it. There was an unidentified meat product, and unidentified soup, and a few other things. The mess sergeant backed away as she approached. She collected a tray, a piece of bread, and a small bowl of the soup. Shepard called her to a seat across from him at the table while other team members began to get up and leave as they finished their food.

She placed the tray on the table and knelt with her hands across her chest in the Aquila. She sang her prayer quietly, thanking the Emperor for her meal. She sat in the chair, but quickly stood up when it became apparent that it would not support the weight of her power armor. She knelt at the end of the table.

As she began to eat, the door opened and in stepped Miranda and Katherine. Both retrieved food trays, neither limiting themselves as Silvana had. Katherine knelt at the opposite end of the table from Silvana and said her grace; Miranda took a seat next to her.

Meals were eaten in silence. Katherine and Miranda stood up and left to discuss Cerberus operations, technology exchange, and logistics. Shepard remained to discuss Silvana's history.

"I make it a priority to know the history of all of my teammates to improve team coherency and determine where and when we need to deploy. Please give me a summary of your life, from as far back as you can remember to now; don't classify anything. If what you say is true, I won't know any of the places or organizations you know, so please describe them to me if you can."

"I can't tell you what is classified by the Inquisition or the Imperium, for your own safety and that of those here. As the Lord Inquisitor's aide I encounter things no human should face or know of, and will not name here."

"I can handle anything. I'll need to know these things if I am to gauge your abilities."

"To utter their cursed names is a heresy of the worst kind and can bring them into existence in a storm of pure madness. That information is classified for everyone's safety, and I will take it to my death. My life is dedicated to their extermination; I will not introduce the fell powers to this pure place."

Silvana began her history.

"I was raised in Convent Prioris as part of the Order of the Argent Shroud. I am told I was found abandoned in the great hall of a warship en-route to Holy Terra by a sister of my order, and brought to the convent as soon as we arrived. As I had no name, I was named after the order's honored saint Silvana, who stood before the throne of the Emperor during the Age of Apostasy and was martyred in His name. I was raised in the convent and trained with my fellow sisters for my entire childhood, dedicating my life to the immortal Emperor and his Imperium."

"You're basically a warrior nun? What was life like in your convent?"

"We awoke early for prayers in the great cathedral. I remember it well; I spent at least half of my waking hours there. The ceiling was kilometers above the floor, out of sight; so were the wall of the great hall. There were statues of the saints of the six orders at the entrance, and a massive gold statue of the emperor at the head of the hall. My company always formed up near the left wall; it was lined with alcoves with statues of the Imperium's saints and martyrs. We would take our morning meals and return to pray. In the afternoon after prayers adjourned, we practiced with weapons, memorized hymns, contemplated our teachings, and learned the history of the Imperium and humanity. After the evening meal we reassembled for evening prayers before retiring. Once I came of age, I took my vows to the Emperor and was deployed to combat against the vile heretics who turned their backs on the Emperor. I became an elite Seraphim after many campaigns waged against the threats to humanity, and served the order for many years after. As a blank, I was selected by Katherine for her retinue to provide combat skill and psychic protection, and have served her ever since. To be taken into an Inquisitor's retinue is a high honor and gratifying experience, giving one a chance to actively seek out and curb heresy and corruption and spread the Emperor's light. I was offered a chance to return to the convent as a Canoness Preceptor when Katherine became a Lord Inquisitor, but chose to stay with her retinue."

"Do you respect your commander? How long have you been fighting?"

"A Lord Inquisitor is a true imperial hero, a symbol of faith and righteousness. I would follow Katherine into the Eye of Terror to slay the dark gods themselves if she asked. I may not have a soul for the Emperor to save, but I can still help save those that do. I do not know my age or how long I served in any given position. I have fought against all manner of heretics and xenos, from mislead cultists to fallen Astartes, from the brutal Orks to the vile Tau and deceptive Eldar, and worse, things that would drive a lesser human insane, as an Inquisitorial aide."

"What sort of missions did you participate in with Katherine? What do you do as her aide?"

"I serve her in combat and as a bodyguard. When we go to a planet's surface I always stay near her to protect her. Once we acquired the tank from a space hulk, I also served as its driver. In combat I use my pistols, chainsword, and jump pack to jump in, attack, and jump out before the enemy can retaliate. My sacred armor protects me. I began carrying the laspistol as a backup after a mission where my other weapons exhausted their ammunition. Many inquisitorial agents do. I cleanse the heretics and xenos with holy promethium and destroy tanks and high value targets with my inferno pistol. What is your history?"

"I was born to two Alliance navy parents aboard a ship, and entered the military as soon as I was able and eventually became an N7 elite operative. After a group of Batarian slavers hit one of our colony worlds, I personally led a detachment to Torfan to destroy them. We took no prisoners there, and I gained enough renown that I became the first human SPECTRE. I played a direct role in getting humanity a seat on the council after Sovereign the Reaper attacked the Citadel during my first mission. I was spaced when the Collectors' cruiser destroyed the first Normandy, but was resurrected by Miss Lawson and Cerberus to continue the fight against the Collectors and the Reapers."

"It wouldn't take much to destroy this tiny thing. What are the Reapers? I know we fought the Collectors on Horizon."

"Don't let Joker here you say that. This ship is bigger than the original. The Reapers are synthetic monstrosities that come from dark space every 50000 years to destroy all life. I'm currently trying to stop them; they work through the Collectors. Each reaper is bigger than a dreadnought, almost 2 kilometers long. They have weapons that bypass our ships' kinetic barriers and shields and armor that can take the punishment an entire fleet could dish out. And there are billions of them, Sovereign was just the scout. That is why Miranda is fascinated with your laser weapons. Directed energy weapons bypass shielding."

"Our battle barge was 14 kilometers long, but I already gather your ships are pitiful."

EDI chimed in, "This ship is a state of the art frigate. We have active and passive cloaking systems that can make us invisible to sensors, and a disproportionate amount of firepower for our size."

"Abominable Intelligence, I know you're listening. The soulless intelligence is an affront to the Emperor; if you make one wrong move I won't hesitate to carry out my sacred duty!"

"EDI is essential to the operation of the ship and gives us an edge over opponents. She is inhibited and will not attempt to harm us in any way; please calm down."

"I don't trust it anyway."

"I would like to make it clear I expect you to cooperate with the other artificial and nonhuman crew members to ensure the success of the mission. We are heading to Haestrom to pick up another team member. She's an alien; I've worked with her before. If your guns don't have ammo, borrow one of mine from the weapons lockers. Get everything you will need ready. The squad is going to be you, Garrus, and I. We'll have a better briefing before we go in when we have better data."

With that, Shepard stood up and departed to his cabin. Silvana left to find Katherine and Miranda.

Katherine and Miranda had been discussing the acquisition of ammunition for the inferno pistol and fuel for the jump pack in the armory, after evicting its normal occupants. The weapon's ammunition flask had been emptied and the contents analyzed with Katherine's supervision, as well as a fuel sample from Silvana's jump pack. Katherine had promised to allow Cerberus scientists to analyze the weapon itself after she had met the Illusive Man in person, but not before then, so the weapon had been safely locked away within the tank.

Silvana entered the room as Miranda and Katherine were finishing their diagnostic on the melta fuel.

"Shepard has asked me to assist in recovering some xeno that needs saving for his team. May the Emperor pardon me."

"Go ahead. Monitor his actions, execute the mission as he commands, we'll resolve the situation later. We'll have ammo for your inferno pistol and fuel for your jump pack," Katherine turned to Miranda, "If you keep collecting xenos, I may have to reconsider releasing the secrets of some of my weapons for they may fall into xeno hands."

Miranda defended herself: "Shepard does not speak for Cerberus. He is the exception, the rest of Cerberus would not let an alien touch their ship, much less come aboard. Please, we have an important mission, and your technology will stay out of alien hands at all costs because humanity needs the edge."

The diagnostic proved that the inferno pistol ammo would be easily obtained, requiring only a highly compressed mixture of several helium and hydrogen isotopes readily available aboard the ship. The jump pack fuel was proven to be much more chemically complex and highly volatile, and would not be able to be safely made before deployment.

The imperials adjourned to their designated cabin to get much needed rest.

**Horizon**

The Alliance strike force arrived soon after the Normandy SR-2 had left.

The small fleet consisted of a cruiser and a couple of destroyers, with a few frigates in escort.

Ashley radioed them.

"Alliance strike force, this is Horizon Colony Command. Repeat, this is Horizon Colony Command, Ashley Williams. Source of abductions determined and destroyed, enemy craft crashed on planet surface. Full report will follow."

The fleet moved into orbit over the colony world.

"Sending a ground team to meet with you. Would like confirmation of extranet reports detailing unexplained arrival of large vehicle and two armored people by the alias of 'Lord Inquisitor Katherine Laurea' and 'Sister Seraphim Silvana'. Do you have these people in custody? Will also be investigating hulk."

"No. Come on down. I'll tell you the whole story."

After a briefing and several hours of persuasion and haggling, plus a call to Alliance High Command, the fleet contingent prepared to take on people and supplies to reclaim the other worlds of the terminus system. Researchers were dispatched to investigate the Collector hulk more thoroughly.

**The Warp, 41****st**** Millennia**

The Emperor could see through the Warp the quadrillions of tiny specs that denoted the faithful human souls of the Imperium. One stood out. One was separate from the rest, barely visible through the depths of the Warp where, without followers, even the 4 primary gods of Chaos couldn't see. . He focused on it momentarily; it was surrounded by the dull souls of the unfaithful. The soul cried out for help, seeking assistance from its lord. It prayed for salvation. A soul, previously dull, was suddenly lit. The God Emperor of Man was intrigued. With a touch of his power, he nudged a passing ship off it course and sent it through the warp to be their aid.

_Unyielding Wrath_ ploughed through the Warp, protected from the denizens of the infernal place by its gellar field. The ship's commander had died in a warp accident on her last mission; it was en-route to Titan to be re-assigned. It would never arrive, charted as lost in the warp, another set of casualties amidst the millions that gave their lives daily in the Emperor's name. A loss insignificant to the events of the 41st Millennia.

* * *

In other irrelevant news: My guardsmen got more reinforcements, in the form of a few new MBTs and light artillery. LR Demolisher squadrons are amazing against Deathwing, much better than the LR Executioners I previously used (the plasma cannons never seem to be able to land a good hit of more than 1 terminator a turn except the one they arrive in, the pie plate always got at least 3 termis, more on arrival turn). Autocannon support teams are overrated (they don't have the strength to kill tanks, the AP to kill marines, or the rate of fire to kill 'nid/ork blobs), and integrating them into squads loses me firepower (FRF-SRF only works on lasguns, and the autocannons doesn't compensate for the loss of 6 shots, at least against my normal foes [almost everyone around here is some variant of marines, so AP4 doesn't cut it]) and mobility. Missile and Lascannon teams are great when paired with Demolishers, though.

AncientRaig: Thanks. Better or worse?

ShadowCub: The Inquisitor will most definitely be at odds with Shepard in the future (an Inquisitor and a SPECTRE have similar tasks and authority, a Lord Inquisitor would have more power), but also will be taking efforts to convert the Cerberus operatives; they have a chance for redemption from the Imperials' moral standpoint. I like the Sisters as well (but they are far to expensive. $80 for one squad?).

Eipok: Good point. I changed the term to "a hundredth". I couldn't find a number for how much mass effect fields took out of the shells.  
The Imperium does all varieties of funeral. As long as a people follow the imperial cult, they can practice however they want (within limits). It actually has a large amount of tolerance in that respect. They would probably stop at using enemy bodies as fuel for pyres though, but that doesn't mean they won't threaten the aliens with it by implying there will be so many alien dead that they could use the bodies as fuel.

aDarkOne: Both will appeal to each other's "better" nature. The Imperium is in an entire universe of grey morality. If the Emperor wasn't a god then, he most certainly is now; that's the way the Warp works. People need to worship him to prevent their actions from feeding the Chaos Gods. I saw a comment somewhere on the internet that the Imperium is like a man hanging from a cliff. He's holding on with one hand, and could use the other to pull himself back up, but is too busy using it to give the middle finger to all the onlookers below.

If anyone cares, how would the Alliance and Council respond to the Imperial propaganda, ethics, and weaponry? I'm not sure whether they'd try to diplomatically negotiate or sic the SPECTREs onto them.


	6. Chapter 6: Haestrom

Hi. Longest yet.

I OWN NOTHING. GW AND BIOWARE OWN WH40K AND MASS EFFECT

* * *

**Orbit, Haestrom**

The imperials entered the mess hall for morning meals in full armor, their heavy tread announcing their arrival.

"Did you sleep in your armor? Do you ever take it off?" Kasumi asked cheerily.

"No, I did not. It has an under layer of electro-fiber cloth that tracks my movement; I slept in that," Katherine responded quickly before proceeding to collect her food.

Shepard approached Katherine, who was eating from a kneeling position at the end of the table.

"Were entering orbit of Haestrom. I'm going to land with Silvana and Garrus to recover a former teammate. I want you to stand by with Miranda and Jacob to reinforce us if something goes wrong."

"I gave Silvana clearance to participate; she has orders to accomplish your objectives to the best of her ability. I don't approve of your continuous recruitment of xenos, but have agreed to tolerate it for now. When will we be organizing my meeting with the Illusive Man?"

"I'm in charge here, as a SPECTRE my loyalty is to the Council, not a xenophobic empire, and I'll do what I want in what order I want; we'll meet the Illusive Man after I finish recruiting all my potential team members. Just stand by if something goes wrong."

"I'm a Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus; I am charged with protecting humanity from dark influence, and have the power to do anything I deem necessary for the execution of that task and take orders from none except the head of my order and the Emperor himself. My word is law wherever humans exist. I swore no loyalty to you or any organization here; my personnel act on my orders. Remember that."

Miranda hastily broke up the argument before it could escalate, proclaiming both were necessary and cooperation was essential for the mission.

Upon finishing her meal, Katherine stood and left quickly, followed by Silvana. Miranda stood to chase them down.

"Please, go along with him for now. Humanity needs every edge we can get. We desperately need your technology to level the field with the aliens and we need him as a symbol for the rest of humanity. Most don't agree with Cerberus, but we know that humanity is better than the aliens and should rule them, instead of the way it is now. I work to see that happen, and need both of you for that."

She would have continued, but was interrupted by EDI's announcement: "Attention, members of the ground team for Haestrom, please prepare for departure."

"Go," Katherine ordered Silvana, "Monitor Shepard, make sure only the intended xeno is recovered. I want a report on the hostiles and their capabilities. I would also like you to evaluate Shepard's abilities, but discreetly. You can take the storm bolter from the tank, but conserve ammo."

Miranda added, "I managed to replicate the fuel mixture for the 'inferno pistol'. I left it in the armory."

"Thank you. May the Emperor bless you."

Katherine and Miranda headed to the combat information center while Silvana headed to the armory. Shepard entered just after she did.

"You can take one of our pistols."

"I have my own arms. They will suffice."

"Great. EDI, call the team for deployment."

"Yes sir. Attention ground team, report to the hangar for deployment."

On her way out, Silvana grabbed the ammo flask for the inferno pistol Miranda had refilled. The two marched down to the hangar.

In the hangar was Garrus, already waiting with his sniper rifle. Silvana walked over to _Righteous Vengeance_ and collected her chainsword, laspistol, and inferno pistol. She slotted home the ammo flask and power packs for all three weapons and mag-locked them to her waist. Last, she removed the storm bolter from its pintle mount and locked it to her thigh.

The three entered into a UT-47 Kodiak, Shepard and Garrus taking seats on one side, and Silvana taking a seat on the other.

"Tali came here with a group of Quarians. There's Geth everywhere; I'm not sure how many of Tali's men are left alive. The sun will deplete your shields, stick to the shade."

"What sort of foul xenos are the Quarians and Geth?"

"The Quarians are a race of aliens driven from their planets by the Geth. They live on ships and wear masks and suits because they have no immune system. The Geth are AIs they created that turned on them."

"You have experience with abominable intelligences turning on their creators, and you still persist in keeping one on your ship. There seems to be no way I can save you."

The small shuttle landed without incident. No Geth or Quarians came out of the wrecked buildings. The fireteam sheltered in the shade of the landing site.

"Silvana, take point. Garrus, follow up. Head down that ramp."

Silvana jogged down the ramp to the next shade spot, followed by Shepard and Garrus. They ran past another spot of sun to the bottom, where a heavy orange gate blocked stood. Shepard opened a reinforced blast door to the right of the gate, and after looting the contents of the room, the team prepared to move on. Shepard opened the main gate, and no sooner had the team passed through than a Geth dropship roared past in a low flyby, strafing the team. All three dove for cover behind the crates that were strewn about the area.

"Incoming Geth!" Shepard yelled.

Silvana stood from behind the crate and drew her laspistol. She aimed at the nearest Geth warrior, her already good aim augmented by her armor. Violet lasbeams flashed from the pistol, bypassing the kinetic barriers of the Geth and boring molten holes straight through it. The weapon, which was considered weak by imperial standards, was more than powerful enough to instantly core holes in the comparatively pitiful armor of the Geth warriors. Before the first has hit the ground, she lined up a second shot on a second Geth, melting another hole through precisely crafted circuitry and downing another enemy. Garrus's sniper sounded and another enemy fell while Shepard's Vindicator chattered away at the synthetic warriors. Return fire bounced harmlessly off Silvana's power armor, the hardened ceramite proof against anything the Geth could throw at it.

"This way!" Shepard commanded leading the team down beneath an overhang and up a set of stairs.

At the top was another Geth, put down by a clean lasbeam to the head. The team proceeded through the building to a balcony overlooking another ruined courtyard on the side, Silvana keeping a wary eye on Garrus. A few Geth moved into the courtyard, and were quickly put down by a combination of sniper fire and laspistol shots. As the team crossed the courtyard, Shepard paused for a moment to inspect a Geth that had fallen in the shade. A perfect hole had been cut through its center mass, vaporizing vital circuits.

"That's a damn powerful gun you've got there," Shepard commented.

"The humble laspistol is one of the weakest weapons available to a member of an inquisitor's retinue. I carry one because it has practically infinite ammo and use it when ammo needs to be conserved."

The team moved around a corner and into a firefight. A Quarian was gunned down by a few Geth, who were in turn reduced to scrap by the combined fire from an assault rifle, sniper, and laspistol.

Shepard picked up a radio from a fallen Quarian.

"This is commander Shepard of the Normandy, can we provide assistance?"

A garbled reply came through from the other end, confirming that the outnumbered Quarians desperately needed backup.

"Where are you; what's your status?"

The voice on the radio responded: "We're down at base camp across the valley. Getting Tali'zora out safely is our top priority. She's holed up at the observatory."

"Hold your position. We'll hit 'em from the back."

He turned to Garrus and Silvana, "That door down there, we're heading there."

Another Geth dropship came roaring in, firing its weapons at the Quarians defending the door.

"Bring it down!"

Shepard moved to deploy his rocket launcher. Silvana pulled the storm bolter from her thigh and lined up a shot on the "head" of the dropship. She hesitated unnoticeably, as the shots from the dropship struck home against the Quarian barricade, flattening it and killing the defenders. She squeezed the trigger, sending a pair of mass-reactive, diamantine-tipped, sanctified bolt rounds on their way. The first pair of bolts struck the kinetic barriers of the dropship and detonated, the shields flaring brightly as they collapsed. She pulled the trigger again; the second set of .75 caliber miniature rockets tore through the armor of the dropship and detonated, blowing circuitry to dust, sending the dropship out of control. The dropship fell, plowing into the ground and sliding to a stop against the side of the building in a pile of smoking wreckage.

"Did you just bring down that dropship?" the radio crackled.

"Yeah, but we weren't fast enough to save your men; were headin' down there now."

"The door's been jammed by the wreckage. You'll need breaching charges to get in. There's some in the surrounding buildings."

"Got it. Squad, we need to get some demolition charges to blow open the door."

The fireteam made its way towards a building EDI helpfully pointed out, gunning down Geth along the way. Silvana had replaced the storm bolter on her thigh and was again wielding the laspistol.

Silvana bumped into a cloaked Geth, which futilely attempted to kill her.

"In the Emperor's name foul soulless abomination, be cleansed!"

She pulled her chainsword from her hip and shoved it through the offending robot, the whirring teeth tearing through cabling, armor, and circuit boards, shredding the Geth.

She ran forward swinging the roaring weapon through the synthetics with ease, their shots bouncing harmlessly off her heavy ceramite armor.

She stopped in a courtyard while Shepard and Garrus caught up to her.

"There's a set of charges over here, and another down there. Garrus, cover me while I get these ones. Silvana, grab the ones in that bunker. EDI says they're in a room in the back."

The team split. Shepard headed with Garrus towards the first set, while Silvana charged down the hill to the last set. Shots from the Geth guns bounced off her armor. From an overhead catwalk, Geth rocket soldiers fired their weapons down on her. The warheads failed to scratch the ornate powered armor, but she was staggered by the concussive force of the impacts. Lasbeams quickly found the offending rocket troopers, putting them out of their misery. She charged through the Geth below with her chainsword roaring, spreading circuitry and shredded armor across the floor of the bunker.

"I'm down here. Where are the charges?"

"In the back in a small room. I've got this set but am pinned down by a few Geth Primes. Grab 'em and get up here."

She located the box of breaching charges and turned to leave the bunker. More Geth had run out onto the catwalk.

"By the Emperor! This is why abominable intelligences should be destroyed, not kept as pets! May my holy wrath find those that created these!"

She hefted the storm bolter and stitched a line of fire across the catwalk. The sanctified bolts tore through the flimsy catwalk like paper and devastated the Geth sheltering behind it, blowing synthetics to bits in a rain of shrapnel.

"Feel the Emperor's holy wrath, foul abominations!"

She ran up back up to the courtyard to see multiple large Geth pouring fire into the area where Shepard was hiding. There was a fair number of small Geth around them. She saw a big one stagger and fall as a sniper round blew through its fragile circuit boards.

Shepard has quickly and easily suppressed the Geth he had found near the garage and recovered the first set of demolition charges. He had gone further back to investigate the garage, recovering some data and other equipment he found. While he was inside, several Geth Primes and their supporting warriors had deployed in response to the downing of their dropship and had begun to attack. Shepard and Garrus had held them out of the entryway and were sheltering behind large crates, firing out at the Geth when they had the opportunity.

Silvana ran forward, firing the storm bolter into the crowd of synthetics, blowing a big Geth into shrapnel with a pair of shots and demolishing several smaller ones. She pulled out her chainsword and replaced the big storm bolter on her thigh as she charged into them. The Geth had turned to face her as she barreled into them, their gunfire ineffective against her armor. A Geth prime swung its arm at her to deflect her attack. The force of the blow knocked her back several feet, but hadn't damaged her armor. She stood up and saw the offending synthetic fall as a sniper round when through its head. Numerous smaller Geth fell as Shepard's assault rifle tore into them. Silvana lunged forward, decapitating a large Geth with her chainsword before it could respond.

"You shall be purged and you taint cleansed from this world foul being!"

When the last Prime fell to Shepard's sustained fire the smaller Geth were thrown into a state of disorganization and disarray. They were picked off and butchered by Shepard and his team.

They headed over to where the door had been mangled by the dropship's fall and wreckage was piled against it. It was jammed in place by the damage. A furrow was dug in the ground by the Geth ship's crash, and the side of the building where it had hit was noticeably cracked. Shepard placed the charges against the pile of wreckage and doorframe.

"Everyone get back! Take cover!"

All three dove for cover as the door exploded off its sliding rails, flying inwards with a cloud of debris. Within seconds of the detonation Silvana fired a spread of lasbeams through the opening with her laspistol, a subconscious action developed as a result of serving in the Ordo Malleus, where every door that had to be breached had some form of vile enemy behind it. When the chunks of doorway and Geth dropship had settled and the dust cleared, the team stood up and entered through the gaping blown in the wall.

Inside was a scene of carnage. Dead Quarians littered the floor. Consoles had been smashed by the flying debris or knocked from their place by the impact of the dropship.

A communication console flickered on the floor, along with several dead Geth.

**Normandy SR-2 CIC**

Katherine and Miranda had gone to the CIC after parting ways with Silvana.

"So, we just wait here for him to call for help?"

"Yeah. We'll monitor his progress from here as well."

They monitored the displays in silence for a time. There wasn't much radio chatter. After the first enemy contact, it became clear they weren't likely to be needed outside of extraction.

Eventually, Miranda spoke. "What background do you come from? What exactly does your rank mean where you come from?"

"I'm a Lord Inquisitor. I'm responsible for the protection of humanity by seeking out and terminating threats to Imperial rule. I have the power to do anything short of heresy to accomplish my goals, and am only subordinate to the head of the Ordo Malleus and the Emperor himself. Each Ordo of the Inquisition has its own specialty. The Ordo Malleus's is classified for the protection of everyone. I can declare crusades, raise tithes of soldiers, requisition any materials, armaments, and ships I deem necessary, remove or instate planetary officials, have access to weapons and information not even the chapters of the Astartes have access to, the power to declare or halt an exterminatus on a world, investigate any imperial organization for deviancy from the imperial creed and corruption, and have power over other Inquisitors. I serve as a symbol of Imperial glory and an inspiration for all humanity. My further responsibilities are classified by my order for your safety."

"Where do you come from? I understand you think you did some sort of time travel or dimensional travel."

"Why don't you tell me about yourself first?"

"What if that's classified?"

"Nothing is classified to a Lord Inquisitor."

Miranda, not wanting to start a confrontation, began her backstory.

"My father engineered me to be a perfect specimen of humanity as his heir. Everything about me was designed to be excellent: my intellect, my appearance, my physical capability, and my biotic ability, everything. I never really had a childhood, just training. He was never satisfied that I was the top student in every class; I had to be twice that. I wasn't allowed to make friends, or even talk to people outside of my education. He didn't really care about me; he didn't want a kid, just an heir, someone to take over for him once he died. I eventually escaped and joined Cerberus for protection from him and because I wanted to help humanity. My skills and intelligence allowed me to rise this far in the organization, as the head of the Lazarus Cell and one who meets directly with an reports to the Illusive Man himself. I was tasked with resurrecting Shepard once he was killed in a Collector attack. Your turn."

"Do you believe in humanity in this galaxy of darkness? Do you think you can lead them to victory over the xenos? Would you support humanity in all circumstances and never turn your back?"

"Of course! Why else would I be at Cerberus. Like you, I want to see humanity rise above all the aliens and take our rightful place at the head of the galaxy! Why do you ask me?"

"Allow me to tell you the story of the Emperor, and then I shall tell you my unclassified history."

She began: "In the Age of Strife, ten thousand years ago, humanity was at war with itself. Civilization had fallen in the wake of the revolt of the Men of Iron; worlds and systems were isolated and the warp was unstable. On Holy Terra the Emperor was born in this time. An extraordinary man, he took the leadership of his nation and united the warring factions of Terra. He joined Terra and Mars into the beginning of the glorious Imperium. And thus he embarked on a great crusade to reclaim the galaxy and all of humanity's lost colonies. For this he created the twenty Legions Astartes, armies of super-soldiers, genetically enhanced implanted with additions to allow them to function in the harshest environments, live near indefinitely, react faster, shoot straighter, have better tactical capability, and take damage that would kill a mortal man. They are clad in great ceramite power armor, impervious to all but the most powerful weapons, and armed with the sacred boltgun, capable of destroying light vehicles and blowing a person to pieces with a single shot. Each Legion was lead by one of his sons, the Primarchs, extraordinary beings created from his gene-stock to be the heads of the great armies of mankind; the Astartes of their legion were based off their gene stock. They were warriors unmatched and intelligent beyond compare, capable of all that an Astartes was capable of and more, each a demigod, almost on par with his greatness. He never got to raise them, for they were scattered across the galaxy by foul warpcraft almost as soon as they were born."

"Are you suggesting my father was justified?"

"Allow me to finish. He led the great legions across the galaxy, reclaiming lost worlds and eventually finding all the Primarchs already grown up and placing them at the heads of their Legions. There was Lion'el Johnson, Primarch of the Dark Angels, the First Legion. Fulgrim led the Third Legion, the Emperor's Children. Perturabo led the Iron Warriors and Jaghatai Khan, the White Scars. Leman Russ lead the ferocious Space Wolves, infused with the genes of wolves. Rogal Dorn led the Imperial Fists, experts in siege warfare. Conrad Curze led the Night Lords, experts of ambush. The angelic Sanguinius led the Blood Angels, and Ferrus Manus the Iron Hands. The Twelfth Legion, the World Eaters, was lead by Angron. Roboute Guilliman led the honorable Ultramarines, the largest legion. Mortarion led the Death Guard and Magnus the Red led the Thousand Sons. Horus Lupercal was the warmaster of the crusade, and led the Luna Wolves. Lorgar led the Word Bearers, Vulkan the Salamanders, Corax the Raven Guard, and Alpharius the Alpha Legion. There were two others, but all records of them have disappeared. They led their legions across the galaxy spreading the light of the Imperium, reclaiming what was lost. This was a time of great gain and advancement, but it was brought to an end by the terrible Horus Heresy. Horus was the Emperor's greatest son, the warmaster of the Great Crusade. He grew corrupted and turned against the Emperor and humanity, taking half the legions with him. In his descent into darkness he took with him Fulgrim, Perturabo, Curze, Angron, Mortarion, Magnus, Lorgar, and Alpharius. They mustered their legions and marched on Holy Terra herself, attacking the great gates of the Imperial Palace. The loyal legions made their stand there, taking a great toll on the foul traitors who would turn on their kind. The Emperor seized his opportunity when the void shields that protected Horus's flagship fell and teleported aboard with some of his loyal Primarchs and a guard of his elite custodes, his personal bodyguard to kill Horus and end the Heresy. The ship was corrupted beyond compare, the walls a living substance that ate men alive with the screaming souls of its crewmen fused inside them. The halls inside shifted in ways that defied the laws of reality as foul creations of Horus came to meet the Emperor. Sanguinius was the first to reach Horus in the twisting madness that formerly was a proud ship. He was struck down brutally by the corrupted Primarch. The Emperor arrived too late to save him and entered into a duel with Horus. The fight was long and hard, Horus empowered by his foul corruption. The Emperor eventually slew Horus and erased his very soul from existence, but the damage was done. Horus had mortally wounded the Emperor in their fight. With the leader of the Heresy dead, the traitors fled broken to the pits of the Eye of Terror, where they harass the Imperium to this day slaughtering innocents and bringing forth foul being who I will not speak of. Dorn returned with the Emperor's dying body, where it was placed on the Golden Throne. In that moment the Emperor became a true god, a divine being that watched over humanity wherever it may go and protects us from the foul machinations of the xenos and the heretics. The Golden Throne preserves his body and allows him to maintain the great psychic beacon that allows the navigators to safely travel through the madness of the Warp keeping the Imperium intact. By his will humanity is preserved and prevails above all in a harsh galaxy; with our faith in him we overcome all that would see us cast down. Here is no different; he protects me, you, Silvana, and all of humanity here as well. You, like the Primarchs, are the product of genetic enhancement to be a great leader and warrior. Would you hesitate to cleanse all the xenos and heretics if it was asked of you? Would you waste your gift and turn against humanity in its darkest hour? Or would you continue the legacy of the Emperor here, to claim all in the name of humanity, purge the xeno and heretic, and bring humanity's light to the dark reaches of the galaxy?"

"I would never turn against humanity! I would gladly lead all of humanity against the aliens if it was what I needed to do; that's why I'm with Cerberus. My father was less than human; he didn't care for humanity when he created me, just his own legacy."

"I didn't say your father was right; modifying the sacred human genome when unnecessary is never sanctioned. But you are a gift to humanity no matter what he planned to do or will do. Will you do as the loyal Primarchs and raise humanity above all, spreading our light to the dark places of the galaxy as a model of righteousness and a hero, or will you fall into darkness like the traitors?"

"I will do all I can for humanity. Now, your history."

"Very well, I will say all I can. I was born on a civilized world in the Palatine Sector, I forget which, in the upper-middle hive region. My father had been a company commander in the Imperial Guard and my mother the tank commander of a Leman Russ Vanquisher. Their regiment was discharged on the world after they had taken it, and, as usual, they were placed in mid level posts in the planetary government. I was particularly fascinated by the shrine near the top of the hive, maintained by a group of Sisters. During the week, I would take the lasgun that we kept in our hab-block and go out in the streets looking for 'heretics' to kill in the Emperor's name. Eventually, the local Arbites got fed up with me because I had been to their station too many times when my parents were at work and had me educated in politics and the Imperial Creed. When I was 8 standard years of age, I was taken in by an Ordo Malleus inquisitor investigating occurrences in the underhive as his acolyte because I showed 'faithfulness, above average intelligence, and an inquisitive nature.' From there, I eventually became a full Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus when I was 27 standard years and sought out corruption on my own. The number and nature of missions I led or participated in is officially classified by the Inquisiton, in fact, outside of Ordo Malleus records, I don't officially exist. I became a Lord Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus after some 45 years and assumed command of _Unyeilding Wrath¸ _one of the mighty battle barges that belonged to our chamber militant. As of now, I've been a Lord Inquisitor for exactly 52 years and have orchestrated innumerable campaigns against the foul forces of darkness, and plan to continue serving the Emperor for several hundred years more."

"You don't look 124. You barely look 35 or 40. Are you genetically modified, or do people just live longer in your Imperium? I'm expected to live 150 years with my enhancements, and that's almost twice as long as anyone else."

"I don't know the average lifespan of a human, probably a little over 100 standard years, but I, like most important Imperial officials, have had juvenant treatment that will probably extend my lifespan 4 or 5 times a long, enough that I'll die in combat before I die of age."

"You have treatments that make you younger? I'm 35 but look barely 20; I can't imagine something making you look 35 when you're 100."

"Juvenant treatments aren't too expensive on most civilized worlds, the upper middle class can usually afford one and almost every planetary official has had more than one. I got several courtesy of the Ordo Malleus; we don't want to have to be continuously finding new Inquisitors. The Mechanicus deals with the workings of it, an Inquisitor wouldn't its secrets. The Mechanicus Biologis just administers a few injector pistons of drug over a period of a few years and we get to live hundreds of years more. It also keeps us in our physical and mental prime for almost all of that extended time, thus preserving our usefulness to the Emperor and Imperium."

"So you could artificially make yourself live as long as an Asari if you felt so inclined? I may have to look into this; this could greatly benefit humanity if we can figure you what was done to you."

"Asari? Is this some foul xenos species with an abnormally long lifespan?"

"Yeah. They look like blue-skinned, tentacle headed girls. They're always trying to procreate with every other species, many humans willing join them. I think it's disgusting, but we aren't strong enough or have the technology to take them on. Your tech would give use more than a chance to take them and the rest of the aliens here on and win."

"Mighty guns and machines of war will always be essential, but humanity will always be triumphant not because of our guns or our numbers, but because of our unmatched faith in ourselves, our Emperor, and our sacred cause! Our armies can conquer worlds, and our fleets, galaxies, but our faith alone can conquer the universe!"

"Without your tech, the Council would just overwhelm us. We don't have enough support amongst humans, and the alien militaries are far more powerful than ours."

"Then you need to rally them to our cause! Call together the great legions of humanity; spread the light of the Emperor to the unenlightened masses; and rid the galaxy of the vile xenos!"

"I will. With your tech in Cerberus hands, we can do it; we will show the Council the might of humanity!"

Jacob walked in. "Anything, any new developments?"

"No," Katherine and Miranda said in unison.

Miranda continued, "They're heading to the observatory. They've blown open a door that was jammed."

"Got it; I'll be in the armory."

Jacob left.

**Haestrom Surface**

"Quarian architecture. There's two words you don't expect to hear together," Garrus commented.

"Damn, looks like we didn't make it in time," Shepard stated.

"Is this the observatory?" Silvana asked.

"No, we need to get through that door. It looks sealed against the Geth."

"More charges?"

"Maybe," Shepard said. He called on the radio, "Anyone still there?"

"Yeah, did you blow through the door? We had to pull out."

"Yes, but the next door is sealed. Do you have more charges?"

"No. We sealed it to keep the Geth out and can't send someone back to open it. You have no way to get through?"

Silvana tried to kick the reinforced door open, but without the augmentations of the Astartes, the door proved too strong.

Shepard turned to her. "Kicking it won't help. We need breaching charges or a cutting torch."

Silvana drew her sword. "This could cut into the side of the ship that we shot down on Horizon, maybe it'll go through the door."

"Try it," Garrus said.

She hefted the weapon and shoved the blade point first into the center of the door. The whirring monomolecular diamantine teeth tore through the reinforced metal as if it was wet paper, sending sparks and shards of metal flying from the cut. She pulled her sword downwards, cutting a scar through the door and into the doorframe at the bottom. She swung the weapon upwards, slicing into the reinforced frame at the top of the door with a shower of debris. A jagged cut was rent in the door from top to bottom, the door itself held up only by its sliding rails. She kicked the door where the cut was. The two halves of reinforced door swung off the guidance rails and clattered to the ground, revealing a narrow concrete hallway. Before the doors had hit the ground, Silvana had brought up her laspistol and sprayed a hail of lasbeams down the hallway. Nobody was there, and all they did was leave smoking black craters in the far wall.

"Stop doing that. You'll end up killing friendlies eventually if you randomly shoot through any doorway we have to open."

"Any doorway that we can't open and will not be opened for us is almost guaranteed to have hostiles behind it. Procedure is to fire at least two rounds through any opening that had to be breached. If they won't open the door for us, then they are hostile, and firing a few shells will usually trigger any traps or at least catch the defenders on the other side off guard."

"That makes a lot of sense, actually," Garrus commented, "We do that in the Hierarchy's military as well. Keeps our casualties down."

The squad moved through the hall, weapons at ready. They exited the hallway into an open area, and were confronted with a group of Geth Reconnaissance Drones. Several shots later, the drones were nothing more than smoking piles of scrap. The squad spread out and moved forward cautiously. Two Geth Primes moved out from behind a large concrete obstacle covering each other.

"Prime! Garrus, take one out! Silvana, get the other! Make for the door at the far end."

The storm bolter coughed and Garrus's sniper rifle barked. Two diamantine tipped mass-reactive gyrostablilised bolts tore into one Geth prime and blew it into shards of shrapnel while a hail of assault rifle fire and a sniper round pulverized the other. The remnants of the synthetics fell to the ground while the fireteam ran to the door. It wasn't locked down.

The three moved into the room. Armored shutters covered the windows and the door out was locked. Outside they could hear the sound of battle. Guns chattered and rockets exploded.

"We must be getting close. I'll open the shutters."

Shepard hacked a wall safe open to loot the contents. Garrus canceled the security lockdown. As the massive blast shutters opened, Silvana fired a few rounds from her storm bolter out the window. Outside was at least 40 Geth, including a gigantic horse-shaped one. Primes and troopers swarmed on the ground. A lone Quarian could be seen sheltering on a walkway below them.

"Damn. Geth Colossus. I bet Tali's right on the other side of this field here."

The colossus turned its head and fired a shot straight at their viewpoint.

"Incoming!"

The three dove to the ground below the shutters as the explosion rocked the room, showering them with dust.

"Move!"

They raced out the door and down a staircase to where the Quarian was taking cover. He popped up and fired a rocket out at the massive Geth, before ducking down again.

"Kal'Reegar. Talked to you on the radio earlier; don't know why you're here, but glad for the help. Tali's over there in the observatory, but the damn Geth are between us and her. There must be a whole platoon of 'em out there!"

"Is she still alive?" Shepard asked.

"They can't get into the observatory. It's highly reinforced."

"What are we going to do about the Colossus?"

"Don't know. Standard protocol for Armature-class Geth is to sabotage the shields and whittle it down slowly. But thin one keeps going through repair protocols, throwing that strategy out the window. We'll probably have to get up close to it."

"I'll take it out."

Silvana leaped atop the rail of the walkway they were sheltering on and raised her chainsword in the air, tip pointing towards the gargantuan Geth. From her hip she pulled the inferno pistol.

"Follow me to eternal glory in the name of the immortal God-Emperor of Man! Forward, to victory! Leave no survivors!"

She leapt from the walkway and hit the ground running. The power armor absorbed the shock of the landing as she sprinted across the ground. A rocket whizzed past her from Kal'Reegar as he ran after her across the courtyard of Geth.

Shepard sighed, and ran down the stairs after Silvana and Kal'Reegar, followed by Garrus, taking cover behind a pile of barrels at the base of the stairs.

Silvana ran through the Geth straight for the massive Colossus. Its shots shook the ground as they exploded around her, but her course never wavered. Any Geth trooper that came near her was unceremoniously bisected by her roaring chainsword. Their fire peppered her armor, but nothing even scratched the hardened ceramite armor. Kal'Reegar followed close behind her wildly firing rockets at the Geth Colossus. Gunfire ripped through the air around them and the ground shook from the heavy siege pulse blasts of the Colossus. Geth swarmed to their left and to their right, cutting them off from Shepard and Garrus, who were advancing cautiously behind them, picking off light and heavy Geth. Shepard and Garrus flanked right, moving onto the high catwalk providing a sniper perch.

Silvana may have been practically invulnerable to the Geth weapons, but Kal'Reegar wasn't. The Colossus's machineguns chattered spraying rounds in glowing green streaks that stabbed towards her. She leaped over an obstacle as the siege pulse cannon fired, the glowing blue pulse racing towards her. She hit the ground as the siege pulse passed over her head, targeted to her location moments before. It struck Kal'Reegar as he vaulted over the concrete block, rocket launcher firing from one hand. He was thrown backwards through the air as machinegun fire ripped into him, tearing through his protective suit, shredding his muscles and organs with hyper-accelerated sand-sized particles. He was dead before he hit the ground, mulched by the Geth machineguns. When he hit the ground, the sound was splat; alien blood sprayed out across the ground.

"What a hell of a way to die," Garrus commented.

Silvana ran up a ramp to the right of where the Colossus was firing from, not even pausing to witness the alien's death. She rounded a support column with her inferno pistol drawn and leveled at the gargantuan machine. The leviathan's "head" swung around stitching a line of machinegun fire across the ground to her position, clattering off her armor. Mere meters from the thing, she squeezed the trigger on the inferno pistol. A superheated beam of concentrated energy shot forth from the barrel of the melta-pistol as the fuel was fused into heavier elements and the resultant energy directed straight into the synthetic monstrosity. The body of the vehicle was instantly vaporized by the blast, rapidly expanding as anything along the path of the weapon was reduced to atoms. The Geth Colossus exploded in a fiery display, chunks of armor and pieces of machine flying outwards in all directions; leaving nothing but a crater in the ground and a gaping hole in the low wall it was stationed behind. Silvana stood up from where she was thrown back to by the explosion, still clutching her chainsword and pistol. He face and hair were streaked with soot from the explosion, along with several small scratches on her jaw from flying shards of metal. She was practically unscathed despite her proximity to the explosion, thanks to her armor. She wiped her face off with a corner of her cloak. Her arm had protected her eyes and most of her face from the blast. Shepard and Garrus walked up to her.

"Besides being incredibly reckless and getting Kal'Reegar killed, that was pretty impressive," Shepard commented.

"You should wear a helmet if you're going to charge into combat like that," Garrus added, "that must've taken quite a lot of guts."

"I have a helm in the tank, but I don't wear it unless I'm in hostile conditions. That way the enemy can see my face and know that their doom has come."

The trio ducked behind the remnants of the wall the Colossus had been sheltering behind and picked off the last of the Geth, then moved down to inspect Kal'Reegar's body. Blood was splattered upon the ground around him and alien brains stained his shattered mask. Intestines could be seen hanging from places on his shredded containment suit. He was a mess; Garrus picked his boot up and watched as a torn chunk of Quarian landed on the ground.

"He ain't going to be fighting anymore," Garrus stated blandly.

Shepard picked up the rocket launcher, which still had a torn chunk of Kal'Reegar's arm clutching the trigger. Shepard laid the weapon across the fallen Quarian after removing the power cells for his own.

"Tali's in there. Don't shoot through the door when you cut it open," Shepard said as he gestured to the armored door the Colossus had been guarding.

They didn't need to cut open the door. Tali opened it for them from the inside. Silvana took this as validation of her previous statement about door breaching.

"Allow me to finish this upload. After everyone that died for this data, the admiralty board better use it for something useful. I wish I had joined you on Freedom's Progress."

"It's alright, we did our best. Your men fought bravely to protect you. We actually came here to recruit you for our mission."

"I know. But too many Quarians lost their lives. Some were my friends; all were good at their jobs. I just watched them all die. Give me a minute, and then I'll come."

They waited in silence while the Kodiak came to pick them up.

**Normandy SR-2, Leaving System**

Shepard stood in the briefing room, arms crossed. In strode Katherine, followed by Miranda.

"I don't mind of you practice your own xenophobic religion aboard my ship, providing it doesn't harm other crewmen; we have a freedom of religion here. However, I will _not_ have you trying to convert my people to make them more xenophobic than they already are! It jeopardizes the mission if the crewmembers cannot trust each other to watch each other's back. This mission is of the highest priority and _will not fail_ because you tried to turn the crew against each other. Understand?"

"I have almost 100 years of experience execution difficult, dangerous, and highly sensitive missions that can affect the fate of the entire universe! The most untrustworthy elements I have even served with have been the myriad of xenos we encounter on our missions, always ready to shoot you in the back as soon as you have fulfilled your purpose for them! Take the deceitful Eldar for example: they share the same great enemy as we do, and will send their forces to our aid if the need arises. As soon as the combat gets tough however, their 'farseer' will withdraw his forces so we can expend the lives of faithful and brave humans to further both their goals, of holding off the dark powers and seeing humanity eliminated!"

Miranda interjected herself, "Please, we were only discussing her history and the history of her Imperium. I told her my history and that of our universe, she told me hers and that of her universe. She told me of her religion and her Emperor. She fears the aliens and has good reason to. She was brought up in a culture where Cerberus policies towards aliens seem mild; a culture that developed that way because of repetitive encounters with aliens who believed the galaxy theirs and thought of humans as nothing more than pests to be exterminated. A place where the closest things to multi-species alliances are cults dedicated to the downfall of all civilization and an alien empire that brainwashes it subjects and, instead of diplomacy, infiltrate spies to sabotage supply lines and usurp local government to avert war. Their Emperor was a great man, he unified them and brought them together after a dark age caused by a revolt like the Geth combined with the betrayal of those they thought of as 'allies'. A place that is literal confirmation of all the warnings Cerberus gives about the xenos; where our warning would be accepted by the general populace and considered lenient instead of being hated by the rest of our kind. She was only talking to me, to nobody else in the crew, so there is no need to think that she was trying to instill xenophobia in a _Cerberus_ crew. We need her help; down there it sounded like her aide destroyed a whole damn Geth Colossus singlehandedly while only receiving a few scratches when it blew up!"

"I listened to EDI's recording of your conversation. The second part sounded like she was sincerely trying to convert you to her religion and tell you all the awful things about the 'xenos' she encountered where she came from and intentionally concealed the nature of these 'cults'. You're a good analyst and soldier; don't let your opinions be swayed by her rhetoric. Silvana has amazing fighting skills, but is very reckless. She's a match for an army, but charges into close combat as if she has a death wish."

"A sister would rather be martyred on the field of battle in the immortal Emperor's name than died of age in a convent. She's an elite Seraphim; she's trained to fight by charging across the field on a jump pack to torch an enemy with hand flamers, inferno pistols, or bolt pistols and finish any survivors in close combat before jumping off to a new target. That's what she needed to do, her gun was only effective at practically point blank range."

"Tell her not to recklessly charge until you can fuel her jetpack then. I'd rather not lose any team members, and despite your views, that includes you two."

With that, the meeting adjourned, and the ship set a course for Illium, leaving the dying system through an ancient mass relay.

**Horizon**

Colonists hurried about preparing the small fleet to recolonize the worlds the Collectors had abducted. Most of the colonists were those who had been rescued from the Collector ship and rehabilitated with careful treatment and liberal application of medigel. Many others were motivated to seek vengeance for fallen friends. A dispatch from the Systems Alliance had given a go-ahead for the recolonization of lost worlds. Ashley was to remain in the area and watch for Shepard to return as well as the two "Imperials". Within a day, the Alliance had claimed that, as humans, the "Inquisitor" was required to join and her technology be handed over. The Council was engaged in a bitter debate. As the Imperial weapons bore no resemblance of Prothean technology, the conclusion was that it wasn't, and there was no actual law compelling the Alliance to surrender and share the technology if it was recovered by humans. A select group of analysts was debating the merits of their story as relayed by Ashley, trying to reach a verdict as to whether it was remotely plausible or whether they had stolen the technology of a long-dead civilization. Every government that had the ability had already offered a cash reward for the recovery of the Inquisitor's weapons and armor. Mercenary groups would follow suit as soon as the word got out. Supposedly, multiple SPECTREs were even being dispatched to search for the Imperials.

**_Unyielding Wrath_****, the Warp.**

Klaxons sounded as the Gellar Fields were strained by sudden turbulence in the warp. Internal lighting took on a red hue as general quarters sounded and naval armsmen, clad in grey flak armor and clutching their lascarbines, raced to their stations to repel a possible daemonic attack. Sisters of Silence ran to the astropath chamber as the psykers went mad, shooting those who were screaming, intent on shutting down any possible daemonic intrusion. For hours, the ship was tense with anticipation, but the Gellar Field held. The navigators looked out into the madness of the Warp, searching for a familiar beacon among the twisting contours of hell. They could feel its warmth dully, but could not see it. Even the foul feeling of the Gods of Chaos was gone. The sea of nearly invisible sparks that were the souls of faithful humans didn't reach this far into the Warp, deeper than even Leman Russ's 13th Great Company had yet been in its quest for an area of untainted Warp, yet there were two faint points of saved souls that were invisible in the calming tides beyond the realm of the Dark Gods, where the Old Ones had not disturbed in their war with the C'tan. The navigators would never have noticed them if not for their sudden and uncharacteristic displacement. They set a course for and kept careful watch on the souls, as a bored man watching a dust speck in the air.

* * *

Thanks for everyone's responses. I am relatively surprised that the comparison between Miranda and the Primarchs doesn't come up more often, genetically engineered for perfection and all.

thimond117: Everything is in progress at some point. The battle barge will show up eventually, but not immediately.

AncientRaig: thanks, I'll try to keep updates relatively frequent.


	7. Chapter 7: Codes and Oaths

Hi. Excited for the upcoming Inquisition Codex release. Maybe I'll add an Inquisitor to lead my guardsmen in their crusade of penitence.

I OWN NOTHING. WH40K AND MASS EFFECT BELONG TO GW AND BIOWARE, RESPECTIVELY

* * *

**Normandy SR-2, Approaching Illium**

Shepard had called the team together in the briefing room.

"We'll be arriving at Illium shortly and landing in Nos Astra. I have dossiers for two people here, an Asari Justicar and a Drell assassin. There'll be two teams, one to collect each. Afterwards, we'll resolve any personal issues and take some down time while we take on supplies. Miranda, you take Katherine and Grunt and try to get the Justicar; I expect you'll face heavy combat and probably will have to make a strong impression. I'll get you the dossier on her. I'll be going with Kasumi and Silvana to get the Drell. We'll reconvene at the Normandy and have some down time while I go visit a former squadmate. Any other personal needs can be taken care of then. Got it?"

"Understood."

"I have a sister. When I ran to Cerberus, I placed her in the care of a family here so she could grow up normally. I received a message that indicates her cover may have been compromised, so I would like to check on her first," Miranda stated.

"Recruit the Justicar first. You can check on your sister afterwards."

"Yes sir. I understand."

The team filed out to collect their gear and plan ahead.

"A Justicar is like a vigilante police officer," Miranda informed Grunt and Katherine as they made their way to the armory. "According to the dossier, they're a monastic order that roams the Asari Republics enforcing the laws according to a code by which they live. They are likely to get into fights as they enforce their own laws, not those of the places they are at, so we'll need to be ready for anything, probably mechs. Like all Asari, they are natural biotics. Her name is Samara. EDI says she registered with a tracking officer; we'll be heading to the police station first."

Miranda took an M-6 Carnifex and an M-9 Tempest SMG. Grunt grabbed a big M-23 Katana shotgun. Katherine checked the ammunition box for the storm bolter. Silvana had spent half its ammunition. Grunt commented on the size of Katherine's storm bolter. Katherine ignored him.

"I don't have a lot of ammunition. Do you have a heavy machinegun I could borrow?"

"No heavy machineguns. Do you have more ammo in your tank?"

"The heavy bolter uses different caliber ammunition, so no."

The two teams prepared to depart as the Normandy docked at Nos Astra Spaceport.

Shepard's group filed out over the jetway to seek out the Drell. Miranda, Katherine, and Grunt left soon after and boarded a cab to the tracking office.

"This thing is a deathtrap." Katherine commented on the cab.

"It's not a tank. It's a taxi. It isn't supposed to be big and armored."

"Even grav-cars are tough enough to take fire without going down. A lasgun could probably wreck this thing."

The cab arrived at the transit hub, and the three disembarked to meet the tracking officer. An imposing spectacle, they quickly drew the attention of others nearby. Ignoring nearby civilians, the three approached the tracking officer.

"Hello, I'm officer Dara. Can I help you with something?"

"We're looking for Justicar Samara, supposedly she registered with you."

"Why, do you have a problem? Did she kill someone already?" The Asari asked worriedly.

"We just need to talk to her," Miranda answered.

"She's at the commercial spaceport. Just be polite when you meet her. Justicars embody our highest laws; she's not used to dealing with aliens."

"I take offense to being called 'alien' xeno. I am a human, a mighty Lord Inquisitor, of the glorious Imperium of Man, not a backstabbing, filthy, unholy, corrupting _alien_. Particularly by a foul mockery of the human race like you."

"Ma'am, if you can't tolerate an Asari you should get out of Nos-Astra. This is Asari space; we've been around far longer than humans have. You're alien to us, you're the alien here."

"We know where she is; let's get out of here before something happens," Miranda commented.

The team returned to the cab.

"Diplomacy here doesn't work the same way your diplomacy works. Don't start fights with the residents here."

"I don't mind fights. When are we going to get to fight?" Grunt interjected.

"We'll be arriving back at the spaceport soon."

The cab landed at the spaceport with a whine. Before the car, a purple-skinned Asari police officer confronted a Volus merchant. The detective turned and left. The trio exited the cab. Miranda confronted the Volus.

"Volus. Do you know anything about the Justicar?"

"She's in the alley where my business partner was murdered. A detective sealed the area, so you'll need to talk to her if you want to get in. It isn't safe for me here; I have to work the angles and get out of here."

"Stop xeno. Get us into the area."

"Talk to the detective in the office over there. It isn't safe for me here."

The trio headed over to the spaceport police station and approached the detective behind her desk. The detective eyed the two humans and the krogan warily, noticing that both the krogan and armored woman were tracking large guns. The armored woman's weapon was unlike any she had seen before, and her stylized armor was bigger than any commercially available armor system.

"Nice weaponry. Don't use 'em here."

"Xeno, where is the justicar?" Katherine was blunt and straightforward.

"We're recruiting her for a mission," Miranda elaborated.

"If you're getting her out of my district I'll get you right to her. She's at the crime scene. I'll report you're presence to my superiors and let you in. They want me to detain her; she'll have to kill me. If you lure her away with some big noble cause, I'll be thrilled to help you."

"How do we get to her xeno?"

"Around the corner. Go outside, take a left. Be careful, the local Eclipse mercs have been all over that area lately."

The team headed out around the corner and passed through the holographic police tape blocking the line.

"Careful, there's been merc activity back there. We have word to let you through," an asari police officer volunteered.

Miranda took point as the moved down the alley, flanked by Katherine and Grunt. Both had their weapons pointing down range.

"I look forward to fighting with you, Inquisitor-human. You might be tougher than the rest of them."

"I'll show you the might of humanity xeno."

"Cut it out."

They rounded a corner and ran straight into a group of mercs preparing for battle.

The Katana shotgun roared, the storm bolter barked, and Miranda's SMG chattered as the mercs and mechs were gunned down before they understood what was happening.

Grunt poked what was left of an asari merc who had been hit by Katherine's storm bolter. Her core had been reduced to bloody mist, her arms, legs and organs were splattered on the floor and her bodily fluids dripped down the wall behind her.

"You're thorough. I need myself a gun like that."

"You will not touch my sacred arms, xeno."

The team passed through a doorway to see a merc getting thrown across the room by Samara's biotics. Eldritch lighting arced across the Justicar's body as she interrogated the merc.

"Damn. Witches."

"I can do that too. It isn't witchcraft. It's biotics. I'll explain it later."

The justicar broke the mercenary's neck when she didn't get the answer she was seeking.

"My name is Samara, a servant of the Justicar code. My quarrel is with these Eclipse sisters, but I see three heavily armed people before me. Are you friend or foe."

"Xeno, come with us," Kathine ordered, "Shepard wants to talk to you."

"You're needed on our mission against a race of aliens abducting human colonies. The leader of the team wants us to recruit you," Miranda explained.

"I sense your cause is just, but I am on the trail of a dangerous fugitive."

"I wish you would go with the humans," Detective Anaya stepped out of the shadows, "I've been ordered to detain you." She turned to the inquisitor, "You too. The Asari Republics wants to speak with you."

"Xeno, I will never submit to your filthy kind. Do not hinder us."

"I can submit for one day, after that, I will have to resume my investigation," Samara replied.

"I can't let you go that soon, and ma'am if the government wants you arrested it isn't my problem, I just carry out orders."

"You can't stop me," both Katherine and Samara replied simultaneously.

"Xeno, we'll find that ship and kill your quarry. You come with us afterwards."

"That I can do."

"Detective, you may leave," Miranda said. She turned to Samara before she left, "Where should we start?"

"The mercs are after a merchant named Pitne For. He'll have information."

The detective and Samara returned to the police station. Miranda, Katherine, and Grunt sought out Pitne For. He hadn't made it far from where they had confronted him earlier.

Miranda was straightforward: "Why are the Eclipse mercs after you. Were you in anyway part of an operation to smuggle someone off world?"

"I know nothing of their people smuggling operations. I supplied them with a biotic enhancing chemical; they want to dispose of me."

Katherine pointed her storm bolter at the rotund alien. "Talk. You know more than you told us filthy xeno. We're looking for a ship name."

The frightened volus replied, "I was bringing them a biotic-enhancing chemical called Minagen X3. It's illegal and lethal in large quantities. That's why they want me dead. I don't know what ship your quarry left on, but you can have this keycard for their base to get in and find what information you want. Don't hurt me."

Katherine lifted the Volus's chin with the tip of her inactivated power sword. "The base. About it."

"It's a network of docking bays and is heavily guarded with mechs. Every one of the Eclipse sisters kills someone as part of their initiation. They're all dangerous. That's all I know. Please, I'm just trying to survive here. Don't kill me," Pitne For stammered.

"Disgusting alien." Katherine sheathed her sword and hefted her storm bolter.

The trio headed for a freight elevator that Pitne For had indicated, using the pass card to enter. The elevator clanged to a stop at its destination. The doors opened and each of the team members immediately sent a salvo of shots through the opening, blowing a guard into bloody fragments of Asari and shattering the ballistic glass windows that looked out onto the docks. Alarms sounded immediately.

"So much for this being easy."

"Move, move, move! Katherine, blow that cover over there away; Grunt, take out the mechs!"

A salvo of bolt shells devastated a stack of crates several mercenaries were sheltering behind. Miranda's SMG's rounds flashed off their shields as they were deprived of cover until the shields collapsed and the sand-grain sized metal pieces tore the Asari to shreds. Another was blow apart by the mass-reactive warhead of Katherine's bolt shells. Grunt slammed his shotgun into the body of a LOKI mech and blew a sizable hole in its chest before it could retaliate. He swung the butt of his gun around and pounded another mech into the ground before blasting into scrap as well. A red haze was slowly permeating the floor from some canisters that had been blown open.

"Probably that Minagen chemical. Head for that door."

The trio ran through the reinforced opening out of the docking area and the growing toxic cloud.

"Oh! A new shotgun!" Grunt grabbed an M-27 Scimitar shotgun off a table, discarding the M-23 he was carrying.

"Katherine, can you grab that?" Miranda asked, "Shepard would be displeased if we left it behind."

Katherine grabbed Grunt's discarded weapon and placed the storm bolter on a mag-lock on her thigh. She racked the slide with a loud click, ejecting a thermal clip into her armored palm. She flipped it around questioningly.

"How does it work?"

"You never told me how your guns work."

"But I let you analyze the munitions for the Inferno Pistol. Explain your munitions."

"Very well, but when we get back, I expect to hear about your other weapons. That's a heat sink. It keeps the gun from overheating. The weapon's actual ammo is chipped off a block of metal in the stock. The heat from the weapon's operation is dumped into the heat sink until it become unusable. You eject it and replace it."

Katherine replaced the head sink with an audible clack. "I'll use this for now. I want to conserve my ammo."

Katherine kicked through a door and fired a burst from the shotgun into the room.

"I like your style" Grunt commented.

An Asari was kneeling on the floor behind a console, her weapon out of reach. Katherine kicked her backwards, shattering ribs with her power armored boot, and placed her foot on the merc's chest with the muzzle of the shotgun in the trembling mercenary's face.

"Wait! I didn't fire my weapon once. I only…"

"Can it. Just tell us what we want to know. Miranda?"

"Your organization smuggled someone important off planet recently. We need the name of the ship."

"They recently smuggled an Ardat-Yakshi off world. I don't know the name of the ship. Let me go! I just though being Elnora the Mercenary would be cool. I thought we'd be going about shooting up bad guys and stuff, but instead we just sell Red Sand and weapons tech."

Katherine tapped the immobilized mercenary's chin with the barrel of the shotgun.

"Are you sure you don't know."

"Yes! I'm new here! Please, let me go! I didn't shoot at you!"

"Do we need her for anything else?" Katherine asked Miranda.

"What's an Ardat-Yakshi?"

"It's an ancient Asari term meaning Demon of the Night Winds. I thought they were just legends, but the boss said the scary lady was one."

Katherine was suddenly much more alert. "Description of Daemonhost. Grunt, leave the room. Now. Miranda, you may leave as well if you wish. Any details like tentacle hair, crab claw hands, bird beak? Spare nothing"

"She looked like a normal Asari, but was really freaky; no crab hands or beaks. She seemed wrong and vile; I can't believe we helped her escape."

"Anything else you remember about her?"

"No. Will you let me go?"

"No. I can't let anyone who was in contact with the possible daemonic, even if it turns out your 'Ardat-Yakshi' isn't actually a daemonhost, go."

Elnora shrieked in horror as Katherine, still holding the shotgun beneath the merc's chin with one hand, drew her sanctified power sword and stabbed it though the Asari's heart. The power field tore apart the very molecules that comprised the mercenary's body splintering the sternum, heart and spine, spraying blood across the floor. The Asari screamed in agony, her soul rent from existence by the runes engraved upon the master-crafted weapon, sanctified with the blood of the pure.

"Let's go. A possible daemonhost cannot be allowed to escape. You need to swear fealty to the Ordo Malleus, take an oath of secrecy, and be tested for purity."

"What's this with daemonhosts, purity, and fealty to your order?"

"I can't tell you unless you swear. And you need to know."

"What? Is this all the classified information you refused to tell me?"

"Yes. Now, you need to know because you were in here, but nobody else does, and I can't tell you without an oath of secrecy, an oath of fealty, and a purity test."

"Okay. What does this entail? Like you, I'd rather not give my oath to an unknown and suspicious organization."

"You'll officially be added to my retinue as an inquisitorial acolyte and have access to Ordo Malleus information, providing you test pure. You'll be expected to uphold the ideals of the order. It won't stop you from working on the current mission or hinder you work with Cerberus, but will require your allegiance to my order. Any information of the order _will_ remain secret on threat of death."

"Test me."

Katherine grabbed a dataslate that was chained to her hip amongst the myriad of religious icons.

"Rites of Exorcism."

She began to read, her voice ringing out in High Gothic, asking the Emperor to save and purify the possibly tainted soul before her. Miranda felt like she was being incinerated from the inside out, but gritted her teeth and ignored the pain. She was immensely confused as to how the prayer Katherine was reading was a purity test and how it was hurting so much. Both were surrounded by brilliant golden halos as Katherine chanted her prayer. Miranda was stunned; the light and searing pain defied all known scientific laws.

"You're pure. Continuing with initiation. Fealty and Secrecy." Katherine began, dataslate in one hand to read the ritual, shotgun in the other in case Miranda faltered: "Know this adept, for your journey has been long and you are to be trusted as few will ever be. We few who are privy to the truth have guarded it selflessly for nigh on eleven millennia, since the end of the great schism from which our order was born. It is our sole concern, for the very future of our race depends upon us, and us alone. The weak will always be led by the strong. Where the strong see purpose and act, the weak follow; where the strong cry out against fate, the weak bow their heads and succumb. There are many who are weak; and many are their temptations. Despise the weak for they shall flock to the call of the Daemon and the Renegade. Pity them not and scorn their cries of innocence - it is better that one hundred innocently fall before the wrath of the Emperor than one kneels before the Daemon. The Daemon has many forms. You must know them all. You must tell the Daemon from his disguise and root him out from the hidden places. Trust no-one. Trust not even yourself. It is better to die in vain than to live an abomination. The zealous martyr is praised for his valour; the craven and the unready are justly abhorred. Adept, form the sign of the Aquila and pledge your allegiance to the exalted Ordo Malleus. Repeat as I say."

Together they took and reaffirmed oaths: "I pledge my soul to the glorious immortal God Emperor of Man, my life to the mighty Ordo Malleus of the holy Inquisition. I will spread the glory of humanity and protect it against all predators: daemonic, xeno, or mutant. I will seek out and destroy the heretical and daemonic. I will protect humanity from both threats within and threats without. I will keep eternal vigilance and protect the knowledge of the order from all comers, friend or foe, with my life. Such I pledge my soul and life, so help me my Emperor, watch over me, guide me in my sacred task. I am an instrument of your will."

"Good. We must move quickly, but I'll brief you on daemonhosts first. This information is very dangerous to any who know it and can lead to the fall of galaxies, nobody else should learn of these secrets."

"Okay?" Miranda asked, her composure regained from the searing pain of Katherine's exorcism ritual and oath.

"The Ordo Malleus specializes in hunting Daemons, ethereal beings of the Warp. Any daemon serves one of the vile gods that shall not be named, for to name them would bring them into existence here. Daemons are beings of pure emotion that lurk in the warp to devour unprotected and unwary souls. Their forms vary widely depending of the vile god they serve, most are twisted and shapeless. In general, they seek to claim souls for their patron and to bring the Realm of Madness into the material universe, twisting reality and leading to a collapse of civilization.

They are beings of pure madness, and periodically they will overpower the soul of a mortal body and take possession of the body to wreak havoc on the material universe and call forth their brethren from the warp. Psykers are intimately connected with the warp and are particularly vulnerable to this. Silvana is a null, she's immune to this. Sometimes a cult will offer a willing sacrifice to them to create daemonhosts as well. A daemonhost's existence is a dire threat that must be dealt with quickly and secretly before any further damage can be leaked, to the point where even cooperation with the vile xeno may be necessary to stop the daemon. A daemon can only be killed either with my weapons, engraved with sigils and sanctified, or killed conventionally in the presence of a null, like Silvana."

"I remember you said the warp was an alternate dimension where your ships went during FTL travel. Things live there? That make absolutely no sense how something in another dimension can devour your soul. And if these gods don't exist here, how could we have a daemonhost here?"

"Every person has a presence in the warp, which is a realm of pure emotion formed out of the collective emotions of every living thing. Each person's soul affects the warp. A daemon can devour this and take control over a person's body to bring its kin out of the warp. The dark god where I come from may not be present here, but any sufficiently similar collection of emotions, sparked by prayer, can coalesce to feed and birth a warp-god, which would have daemonic servants. They can be killed by being deprived of the specific set of emotions they depend on, per se violence or lust, by devoting ones soul to a specific god, our Emperor, or destroying all developed life in the galaxy to prevent the emotions from existing. A younger god would have fewer, weaker and less powerful daemons, but is still threatening and must not be allowed to grow. This civilization may be of young age or have no faiths with sufficient followers or dedication to have strong gods, but a daemon of any god must be dealt with quickly and efficiently. Now, let's go."

Katherine and Miranda left the room and met Grunt in the hallway.

"What did you do in there? You kill her?"

"Yes."

The trio headed up a flight of stairs. Katherine kicked through a flimsy door near the top and fired a blast from the shotgun through the opening, accompanied by shots from Miranda and Grunt. The shotgun blasts tore up the anteroom at beyond the door. The trio moved forward into the room, taking cover behind the doorframe leading back out to the docks. A trio of initiates led by a vanguard biotic rounded the corner in response to the blasts, their weapons firing blindly into the room. A blue pulse shot into the room and exploded against the back wall. Eldritch lightning crackled on Miranda's arm as she threw her own biotic attack back at the Asari mercenary, the attack finding its target, weakening the merc and ripping apart the molecules of her armor. Grunt charged forward through the door into the 4 mercs with his new shotgun blazing. Katherine fire a spread of shotgun pellets past him into the Asari as the frightened initiates dove away from the charging Krogan. He slammed the stock of his shotgun into the head of the vanguard, recovering from Miranda's attack, shattering the unfortunate merc's skull with the force of the blow and grinding her brains into paste. Katherine ran out from behind the cover of the doorframe and fired a shotgun blast into an initiate attempting to make a stand against the Krogan, the force of the shotgun blast throwing the Asari backward with a gaping hole in her chest. Miranda sprayed bullets from her SMG, pinning the remaining two initiates in cover behind some crates. Grunt leapt over the crates the two mercenaries were sheltering behind, crushing one's skeleton beneath his bulk and blasting the other's face off with his shotgun. Two mechs and a Vanguard, followed by another team of initiates ran out of a doorway leading out of the dock area, moving along the walkway towards the two humans and Krogan. Miranda crouched behind a crate a sprayed a burst from her SMG at the leading Vanguard, her shots flashing off the biotic's barrier. Katherine dropped the shotgun, having no place to lock it to her armor, and pulled off her storm bolter. The weapon cough softly as the mass reactive shells were fired from the gun followed by the distinctive "whoosh" of the second stage of the gyrostabilizer rounds igniting. A loud bang heralded the impact of the shells as the charging mercenary exploded into a showed of alien blood and gore, splattering the two mechs following her with her entrails. Another glowing eldritch pulse from Miranda saw one mech fall, while another was blown into scrap circuitry and torn armor by Katherine's storm bolter. The Lord Inquisitor replaced the storm bolter on her hip and picked back up the shotgun as the fire from the initiates sprayed overhead, the Asari advancing carefully from cover to cover, providing suppressive fire for each other.

"Grunt! Suppressive fire!" Miranda yelled as she hurled a biotic attack downrange.

Grunt laid out a barrage of shotgun pellets, pinning the initiate team in place. One initiate fell to Miranda's biotics. Another was blown off the balcony to her death by Grunt's shotgun. The last fell to a peppering of shots from Katherine's shotgun and Miranda's SMG.

"The gun says it's overheating," Katherine said as she ejected the white hot heat sink into her armored palm. "I have to replace this, right? Do you have more?"

"Yeah. Here you go," Miranda tossed Katherine a new one. "This way, up the stairs in here."

The team carefully ascended the stairs, taking cover behind another doorframe at the top. Beyond, several Eclipse sisters had set up a barricade of crates and canisters, supported by several mechs.

"Damn."

Bullets flew passed them through the doorway or embedded themselves in the doorframe the team was using for shelter.

"Katherine! Blow the barricade apart with the big gun! Grunt! Follow through the opening and blast 'em. We'll cover you."

Katherine fired several storm bolter salvoes into the barricade, the mass-reactive warhead blowing the crates and canisters apart in a spray of metal. Grunt charged through the breach and fired his shotgun into the face of a surprised vanguard, pulping it, before swinging the butt around and crushing another's chest. Katherine and Miranda charged through behind him, spraying shotgun pellets and SMG bullets at the desparate mercs. Grunt moved ahead and blasted the center mass out of a LOKI mech. Katherine, shotgun in one hand and power sword in the other, blew and Asari mercenary apart at point blank and swung the blade through another, the power field cleaving through the armor, bone, and flesh with ease and ripping apart the very molecules that made up the unfortunate merc. The two halves of mercenary fell onto the ground, blood pouring out onto the floor amidst the splinters of bone and torn intestine. Eldritch energies tore another xeno apart and Miranda crackled with lightning and sprayed bullets with her other hand. A rocket shot out and impacted Grunt, staggering him with the force. Bullets from the remaining mechs and mercs tore into him, his body regenerating to compensate for the damage. Miranda's barriers flared and rounds chattered off Katherine's power armor. A cloud of red gas had formed around the barricade where canisters of Minagen X3 had been smashed by the inquisitor's opening salvo and the furious combat that followed.

"Move! Get out of the gas!"

Miranda and Katherine fled the gas cloud around the barricade to catch up with Grunt and fired a few rounds back, noticing the biotic mercenaries exploding in showered of red mist as the bullets tore into them. Grunt was bleeding from the damage, but was healing fast due to Krogan regenerative biology.

The strike team moved up the next staircase, the Lord Inquisitor kicking through the door at the top. A spray of bullets blew apart an Eclipse vanguard who had been taking up position in the anteroom. A rocket shot in at the team and detonated against Katherine's armor, the force of the impact staggering her. The offending heavy weapons mercenary was blown apart by a shotgun blast. A merc hurled a biotic pulse at Grunt as her charged forward screaming. Miranda returned fire and sent the offending merc sprawling onto the ground, where Katherine crushed the mercenary's head beneath her ceramite boots. Miranda overloaded a mech while Grunt devastated another with the stock of his shotgun. Guns roared and shields flared, heads were smashed in and mercs cleaved in two by Katherine's glowing blade. Eldritch balls of glowing blue tore through the air as Miranda and the Eclipse vanguards exchanged biotic attacks. Mechs were torn apart by point blank shotgun blasts.

"You need a sword," Katherine informed Miranda.

"Why? I have biotics and my SMG."

"Both of those are ranged attacks. Your witch powers don't give you the ability to slice aliens in two in a duel, do they? We'll get you one when we get back to the Normandy."

Mercenary bodies littered the area, most in multiple pieces or with pulverized heads and chests. The team moved on out of the cargo area, pausing to read a terminal displaying the diary of the merc Katherine and Miranda had questioned earlier. They breached another door and moved down an empty hallway.

"I bet there'll be an ambush. Stay alert," Miranda commented.

Katherine smashed the door at the end of the hallway open. The team fired a salvo through the opening killing a mercenary and two LOKI mechs. The trio moved out into an open area on a suspended walkway. A high pitched whine signaled the arrival of a Mantis gunship, the bid flying up and hovering just past the end of the walkway. Its HMG sprayed bullets at the team as they ran for cover, finding none on the walkway. The gunship launched a pair of missiles at Katherine and Grunt, the rockets detonating harmlessly off Katherine's armor and knocking both back. Katherine stood up.

Figuring it wasn't as strong as the Geth dropship Silvana had downed with the storm bolter, Katherine fired a pair of bolt shells at the hovering Mantis as it strafed their position with bullets. She fired a second and third time to be sure, as the rounds tore through the comparatively flimsy armor of the gunship and exploded, reducing the cockpit to rubble and destroying the engines of the bird. It exploded in a ball of fire, showering the team with shrapnel. They moved off the walkway and smashed their way through another flimsy door.

"You love breaking doors down," Grunt commented.

"You have a better way to get in, xeno? You'd do the same."

"We could hack the doors, you know," Miranda added.

"This saves time and effort. These doors aren't very study and aren't designed to stop heavy weapons, so it's fastest just to kick 'em off their slides and fire a few shots in."

Miranda stopped and grabbed a shipping manifest.

"It's Pitne For's. We might as well turn this in."

They team kicked through another door into another hallway. A drugged volus was rolling on the floor, now wounded by the team's unaimed shots.

"I am a biotic god!" the delusional alien exclaimed.

"Disgusting xeno." Katherine splattered the alien's brains across the wall behind him. "Let's move on."

They moved down another empty hallway to breach the door at the end. An Asari behind her desk looked up from her datapad at their dramatic entrance.

"Everything's gone to hell since we smuggled that filthy creature off world. First the justicar shows up. Now you."

"Consorting with the daemonic is grounds for death in itself, even if you weren't a xeno, you filth."

"I shall take pleasure in turning your head into a pulpy mess, human."

The xeno hurled a canister of Minagen X3 at the team, it burst against the wall behind them.

"Xenos witch, face you doom at the hands of Lord Inquisitor Katherine Laurea of the sacred Ordo Malleus of the immortal Emperor's holy Inquisition! With the Emperor's might, we will see your taint, the blasphemy of your deeds and existence, cleansed from the stars!"

The shotgun thundered as Katherine charged forward towards the Asari, power sword drawn in her left hand. Miranda ran at her right, her arm cracking with ethereal lightning and her gun spraying out a hail of bullets. Grunt ran at her left, blasting away with his shotgun. A rocket flew by them, and the Asari captain hurled a biotic attack, but it did nothing to faze the humans and Krogan.

"Emperor guide my blade!"

Miranda's biotic attack knocked the Asari onto the floor as the trio came upon the captain. Katherine swung her power sword down on the Asari commander and touched the tip to her neck while Grunt stepped on one arm, shattering it. Katherine placed her foot on the Asari's chest, pinning the mercenary leader to the floor.

"What ship did the daemonhost leave on, xeno."

"I won't talk that easily. My soldiers have arrived."

The Asari's head rolled free of her body, her neck torn apart by the power field of Katherine's sword. The Inquisitor crushed the body of the Eclispe commander with her boot and turned to face the incoming vanguards, heavies, and initiates. She tossed the captain's head out into the center of the hall.

"The same fate will befall each and every one of you, xenos and heretics."

With that, battle was joined. Biotic attacks flew furiously, bullets tore through the air, SMGs chattered and shotguns roared. The team took cover and fired away at the exposed mercenaries. Blood slicked the floor and organs became new wall decorations. Katherine dropped the shotgun by her side when it overheated and fired away with her storm bolter. The warheads blew bits of mercenary across the wall and splattered the floor with slippery gore. The storm bolter clicked dry, all its ammo expended. Miranda shredded exposed mercs with her biotic skills and blased away with her SMG. Grunt was smashing in heads with his shotgun. Katherine replaced the storm bolter on her thigh and picked back up the shotgun.

"Do you have another heat sink?"

There was no response; Miranda and Grunt were busy killing exposed mercs and the occasional mech as if it were a shooting gallery. Katherine pulled her bolt pistol from its mag-lock and carefully picked off a couple mercs before letting Grunt and Miranda finish the job. Bodies littered the floor, for the mercs had been bottlenecked in the entrances to the room and caught there without cover. Blood ran across the walls and doorframes, organs and dismembers parts of Asari littered the floor. Pieces from destroyed mechs periodically punctuated the carnage. The wall was pockmarked and cratered from the punishment it had received from missing rounds and biotic attacks.

"Comb through the wreckage for data. We need to find that ship's name."

The three swept the room for any sort of useful data. They collected several datapads from the rubble. The one in the wreckage of the mercenary captain's desk contained the information they were looking for, and the team set off in haste to the police station, not particularly looking forwards to the encounter with the police again.

"I don't envy the officers who are going to have to catalogue and clean this up," Miranda commented as they walked through the now deserted halls of the eclipse base.

Every door in sight had been smashed off its rails; cases of weapons, heat sinks, parts, and other illegal products were strewn about from the fighting. Dismembered corpses littered the sites of the previous firefights from the team's warpath in and the dried blood of the xenos mercenaries formed a crusty surface that crunched beneath the team's boots. A red haze still hung in places form not fully dissipated Minagen X3.

The trio walked into the police station to find several uniformed Asari waiting, along with Samara. Detective Anaya was noticeably disturbed. An Asari SPECTRE stood there as well. The SPECTRE ordered the Asari officers to stand down.

"Hello. Tela Vasir, Council SPECTRE. You're Miss Katherine Laurea? Please follow me."

"Lord Inquisitor Katherine Laurea. I'm already working with another of your SPECTREs, and a human one at that, xeno filth."

"Shepard? He doesn't have full SPECTRE powers because of his association with Cerberus. As a full SPECTRE of the Citadel Council, I'm ordering you to come with me. The Council requires your presence."

"Let it be known that a mighty Lord Inquisitor of the exalted Imperium of Man will never bow to alien scum! Tell your 'Council' masters that I serve none save the immortal God Emperor of Mankind!"

"I am authorized to use force if I have to. I don't want to; we'd rather you arrive alive."

The SPECTRE and armed Asari officers readied their weapons. Katherine leveled her shotgun on the SPECTRE with one hand and drew her power sword with the other. Miranda brought up her SMG while eldritch energies crackled on her arm. Grunt hefted his weapon, and leveled it at the alien officers.

Detective Anaya interrupted the armed standoff. "Will you please not go about shooting each other in my office? I'd rather not die and have the office trashed in your shootout. You three, take Samara and get out of my district if you have the information. Your shootout can happen elsewhere where it isn't my problem."

"I have orders to bring her, or at least her weapons and armor in to the Citadel, detective, and will do so. Do not obstruct me, I'm a SPECTRE; I will execute my orders."

Samara spoke up, "she can meet the Council after her current mission is completed. We will return to their ship." Turning to the team, "I need to swear my loyalty. Who should I swear to?"

"Shepard. You'll meet him on the ship."

The 4 turned to leave. Vasir fired several rounds into Samara's back and dove behind a table, gunning for Grunt as Samara fell forward. The surprised Asari officers spun around raising their guns, stunned that someone would fire on a Justicar. Simultaneously, black clad soldiers raced through the doorway of the station, guns firing at the Asari officers. Shields flared and Asari fell as Miranda, Katherine, and Grunt dove for cover leaving Samara bleeding on the floor, but still alive. The Asari officers made a heroic stand firing their weapons but were cut down by the mysterious black-clad agents.

"Who're these guys? More mercenaries?"

Miranda hurled a biotic attack at a soldier, sending him sprawling to the floor. She finished the agent with a burst from her SMG. Grunt blew one back through a window with his shotgun while their bullets tore into his thick hide. Vasir fired away and threw a biotic assault at Katherine, who ducked back into cover behind an overturned desk and bullets bounced off her armor. Another black-clad warrior was splattered by a shotgun blast, and another shredded by Miranda's attack. Grunt smashed another warrior with his shotgun's stock. Vasir, sensing her troops were too few in number, made her hasty escape leaving her soldiers to cover her. Miranda tossed a biotic attack sailing after the fleeing traitorous SPECTRE while Katherine fired her shotgun, both wounding the Asari. The fleeing traitor leaped into a waiting cab and flew away while the team finished off her remaining soldiers.

"We need to get back to the Normandy. Grunt, grab Samara if she's still alive. I'm calling for extraction," Miranda ordered.

Soon, the Normandy's Kodiak flew in and the three embarked with Samara's wounded and unconscious body, leaving a shaken and wounded Asari detective to report the events. Grunt was in pretty bad shape from the ambush as well. Miranda had been sheltering in better cover, but she had been shot in the leg. Both her and Grunt were healing quickly though, thanks to Miranda's genetic enhancement and Grunt's Krogan regenerative biology. As they left, police cars and several ambulances arrived on the scene from other stations.

**Normandy SR-2**

Samara was rushed to Dr. Chakwas. She was in bad shape, her back riddled with bullets that may have damaged the spine. She had lost massive amounts of blood.

"When will we be able to talk to her?" Katherine questioned.

"Not right now. It will take time for her to heal. Don't disturb her, she's in critical condition."

The team separated to await Shepard's return. Katherine went to the CIC. Several minutes later, Miranda frantically rushed in with a datapad in hand.

"Did something happen to Shepard?"

"No, my father has decided to move against my sister to reclaim her! Since we have to wait for Samara to revive anyway, I going to go and rescue her and make sure he never gets his hands on her, but I need backup. The message was received while we were on the mission, so we have to hurry."

Katherine thought about it for a moment. "Sure. We have time. Get the xeno."

The team reassembled in the armory. Katherine grabbed a handful of heat sinks for the Katana shotgun and dropped them into a pouch on her waist.

"I'll find you a sword later."

Grunt, Miranda, and Katherine again filed out over the jetway.

**_Unyielding Wrath,_**** the Warp**

The great battle barge churned through the Warp towards the barely noticeable pinpricks the navigators were keeping track of. They had flared brightly briefly, and the dull, barely lit one had brightened to nearly match the brighter one, but they were still far too dim for a navigation beacon. The expert navigators of the Ordo Malleus were doing their best. The ship roared ahead through the eerie calm drawing nearer and nearer. Armsmen ran to their battle station as the klaxons sounded to prepare for Warp-realspace transition. Petawatts of power ran to the mighty macro-cannon batteries that studded the ship. Overhead cables hummed as the gargantuan lances came to full power. Void shield generators crackled as they were brought online under the watchful gaze of red robed techpriests. Teams of men loaded torpedoes into their tubes in preparation. The halls were bathed in red light and resounded with the ringing transition warnings. It was always beneficial to be fully armed for combat when making a realspace transition into unknown space.

* * *

Thanks to people who reviewed. Next chapter will be about Shepard, Silvana, and Kasumi (and Thane).

To the Guest who commented on Guard weaponry: I don't know what piece of weaponry they have that is only available to the Guard and would like to know. I have utmost respect for the Wh40k fluff, and so do wish to know what weapon piece is not an available weapon for the Inquisition, I don't have Codex Grey Knights or the new Soroitas Codex, only the old Witch Hunters, Daemonhunters, and most recent IG Codexes. I would like to point out that nothing here is exclusive to the IG. SM's, Sisters, Inquisitors, even arbites use storm bolters and better on tank pintles to provide the tank with close in defense. Actually, Guardsmen cannot take storm bolters except on tanks (Yarrick is the only guard unit that has a storm bolter that isn't pintle mounted), but sisters and inquisitors can carry them. Inquisitors and their retinue also frequently carry laspistols as a backup weapon, even when they have boltguns and plasmaguns available because lasguns have near infinite ammo. This is really obvious when you have a stingy GM for Dark Heresy who has you count bolt shells (only played one campaign, but everyone pretty much used lasguns because nobody wanted to deal with ammo for other, cooler weapons). Inferno Pistols and Hand Flamers are pretty much unique to the Sisters and Inquisition (and Blood Angels, I hear). Unyielding Wrath has lances because it is an inquisitorial ship, not an SM ship, and is thus not constrained by regulations designed to make SM ships non-competitive with the Imperial Navy. Fellglaives are the opposite of IG weapons, they are practically the only baneblade variant that does not have a guard counterpart. I like them, and wish my guardsmen could have a volkite carronade too, but I think it is perfectly reasonable for an inquisitor to commandeer one as a command vehicle.


End file.
